Among the vast treasures of the string quartet literature, Beethoven’s compositions–including the six early Op. 18 quartets–take a place of pride as cornerstones of an entire genre. As a happy result, it seems that every generation of players has produced some inspired performances of this music, including recordings by the Budapest Quartet, the Quartetto Italiano, and the Emerson Quartet. Into this rarified circle comes this new set from the Takács Quartet, featuring wonderfully warm and rich-textured performances.
The degree of interconnectedness of gesture and emotion that these players demonstrate is no less than a state of grace. While only two of the ensemble’s members, violinist Károly Schranz and cellist András Fejér, are original members of the group (founded in 1975), these four move and breathe as if they’ve all been together for decades. Throughout all six pieces every detail is finely worked out, from the jolting accents of the F major quartet’s Scherzo to the luminous sheen of the Andante cantabile in the fifth quartet. Tempos tend toward the brisk, but that’s all to the good of the overall shape of these performances. Matched with clear, well-balanced sound, the moment-to-moment energy and incisiveness of these performances is gratifying, and not to be missed. [2/28/2004]
