Takács Quartet – September 28, Pollack Hall

Edward Dusinberre – violin       Geraldine Walther – viola
Károly Schranz – violin       András Fejer – cello

The Takács Quartet was founded by four students in Budapest in 1975. It first received international attention in 1977 by winning the First Prize and the Critics’ Prize at the International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France. In subsequent years it also won top prizes at the Portsmouth, Bordeaux and Budapest competitions. The quartet made its first North American tour in 1982. The following year it began a residency at the University of Colorado in Boulder, which continues to this day. In May 2012, Gramophone magazine announced that the Takács Quartet was the only string quartet to be inducted into its first Hall of Fame, along with such legendary artists as Jascha Heifetz, Leonard Bernstein and Dame Janet Baker. The Quartet is also the recipient of the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, conferred by President Lászl Slyom. Among the Takács’ many recordings are the complete quartets of Beethoven, which New Yorker critic Alex Ross proclaimed to be “the most richly expressive modern account of this titanic cycle” and the complete quartets of Bartók, for which they won Gramophone magazine’s prize for Best Chamber Music Recording in 1998.

PROGRAMME:

HAYDEN (1732-1809)
String Quartet in B flat major, Opus 64 No. 3, Hob.III:67
Vivace assai
Adagio
Menuetto: Allegretto
Finale: Allegro con spirito

JANÁČEK (1854-1928)
String Quartet No. 2 ‘Intimate Letters’
Andante
Adagio
Moderato
Allegro

BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
String Quartet in B flat major, Opus 130
Adagio ma non troppo – Allegro
Presto
Andante con moto, ma non troppo
Alla danza tedesca: Allegro assai
Cavatina: Adagio molto espressivo – attacca
Finale: Allegro

www.takacsquartet.com