Takács Quartet 04/13/07

Friday, April 13, 2007
8:00 p.m.
Mead Memorial Chapel

Takács Quartet
Edward Dusinberre, violin
Károly Schranz, violin
Geraldine Walther, viola
András Fejér, cello

This concert marks the Takács Quartet’s 20th appearance in Middlebury, having started this remarkable run of performances in April 1994. They have appeared in concert halls all over the world, have made prize-winning recordings of Beethoven’s and Bartók’s quartets, and have premiered new quartets by composers, including Middlebury’s own Su Lian Tan. Their program at Mead Chapel consists of quartets by Debussy, Shostakovich, and Brahms.

Performing Arts Series Director Paul Nelson commented, “Some people argue that one shouldn’t present an artist twice, and certainly not often. It seems to us, however, that there are very good reasons to hear artists more than once, indeed regularly, the main reason being that the performing is outstanding. From the moment the Takács Quartet plays the first notes on the program, audiences know what we mean—they want to hear them again and again. Their program this season includes works we have not heard them play here before: the Debussy Quartet and works by Shostakovich and Brahms. A final new element for this performance is that it is to be held in Mead Chapel for the first time, something we all agreed would be a fine thing.”

Member violinist Ed Dusinberre recently wrote an engaging article for London's Financial Times regarding the quartet's early rehearsals with new violist Geraldine Walther, entitled "She's with the band." You can view the article here.

General Admission: $15/12/5. http://go.middlebury.edu/tickets or 802-443-MIDD (6433).

Concert Program:

DEBUSSY String Quartet in g minor, Op. 10
    Animé et très décidé
    Assez vif et bien rythmé
    Andantino, doucement expressif
    Très modéré – Très movement et avec passion

SHOSTAKOVICH String Quartet No. 11 in f minor, Op. 122
    I. Introduction: Andantino
    II. Scherzo: Allegretto
    III. Recitative: Adagio
    IV. Etude: Allegro
    V. Humoresque: Allegro
    VI. Elegy: Adagio
    VII. Finale: Moderato

Intermission

BRAHMS String Quartet in a minor, Op. 51 No. 2
    I. Allegro non troppo
    II. Andante moderato
    III. Quasi minuetto, Moderato – Allegretto vivace
    IV. Finale: Allegro non assai

For program notes, please contact Events and Residency Manager Allison Coyne Carroll.

Quartet Biography:

TAKÁCS QUARTET
Edward Dusinberre, violin
Károly Schranz, violin
Geraldine Walther, viola
András Fejér, cello

Recognized as one of the world's premiere string quartets, the Takács Quartet plays with a virtuosic technique, intense immediacy and consistently burnished tone. The ensemble explores its repertoire with intellectual curiosity and passion, creating performances that are probing, revealing and constantly engaging. The Quartet has been described as having "warmth, exuberance, buoyancy, a teasing subtlety, unanimity of purpose without compromising the individual personalities of each performer, a blossoming tone, and above all the instinct to play from inside the music…" The Takács Quartet is based in Boulder, Colorado, where it has been in residence at the University of Colorado since 1983.

Now entering its 31st season, the Takács Quartet has performed repertoire ranging from Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert to Bartok, Britten, Dutilleux, Janacek and Sheng in virtually every music capital in North America, Europe, Australasia and Japan, as well as at prestigious festivals, including Aspen, Berlin, Cheltenham, City of London, Mostly Mozart, Ravinia, Salzburg, Schleswig Holstein and Tanglewood. The ensemble is also known for its award-winning recordings on the Decca label, including, most recently, its recording of the complete Beethoven Quartet Cycle which has been awarded a Grammy Award, two Gramophone Awards, the BBC Music Disc of the Year Award (late quartets), the Classical Brits Award for Ensemble Album of the Year (late quartets) and three Japan Record Academy Chamber Music Awards. Of their performances and recordings of these Quartets, the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote "The Takács might play this repertoire better than any quartet of the past or present."

Takács Quartet 2006-2007 highlights include a return to Asia with concerts in Nagoya, Tokyo, Osaka and Seoul; a continuation of the complete Beethoven Cycle at UC Berkeley and in Napa, California; concerts with pianist Stephen Hough in London, Valencia, Bilbao and Bristol, three concerts in London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, and performances in New York, Beverly Hills, Denver, Albuquerque, Ann Arbor, Honolulu, Louisville, Princeton, Sarasota, Vancouver, Philadelphia, San Diego, Cincinnati, Washington DC, Tucson, Paris, Edinburgh, Utrecht, and Darmstadt among others, and two concerts each at the Aspen Festival and the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara.

Recent notable Takács Quartet appearances worldwide have included performances of the Beethoven cycle in New York, Cleveland, London, Los Angeles, Paris and Sydney; the Bartok cycle in Cleveland, London, Madrid, Seville, Valencia, New York, Berkeley and Tokyo; the Brahms cycle in London; the Schubert cycle in London, Lisbon and cities in Italy, the Netherlands and Spain; concerts in Japan; the world premiere performance of Bright Sheng's Quartet No. 3; the world premiere of Su Lian Tan's Life in Wayang; a fourteen-city U.S. tour with the thirty-ninth Poet Laureate of the United States, Robert Pinsky; and a collaboration with the Hungarian folk ensemble Muzsikas in a series of joint concerts exploring the connections between traditional Hungarian folk melodies and the works of Bartok and Kodaly.

In 2005 the Takács Quartet signed a contract with Hyperion Records, for which their first recording will be released in 2006. The Quartet has also made sixteen recordings for the Decca label since 1988 of works by Beethoven, Bartok, Borodin, Brahms, Chausson, Dvorak, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Smetana. The ensemble's recording of the six Bartok String Quartets received the 1998 Gramophone Award for chamber music and, in 1999, was nominated for a Grammy. In addition to the Beethoven String Quartet cycle recording, the ensemble's other Decca recordings include Dvorak's String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 51 and Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81 with pianist Andreas Haefliger; Schubert's Trout Quintet with Mr. Haefliger, which was nominated in 2000 for a Grammy Award; string quartets by Smetana and Borodin; Schubert's Quartet in G Major and Notturno Piano Trio with Mr. Haefliger; the three Brahms string quartets and Piano Quintet in F Minor with pianist András Schiff; Chausson's Concerto for violin, piano and string quartet with violinist Joshua Bell and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet; and Mozart's String Quintets, K515 and 516 with Gyorgy Pauk, viola.

The Takács Quartet was formed in 1975 at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest by Gabor Takács-Nagy, Károly Schranz, Gabor Ormai and András Fejér, while all four were students. It first received international attention in 1977, winning First Prize and the Critics' Prize at the International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France. The Quartet has also won the Gold Medal at the 1978 Portsmouth and Bordeaux Competitions and First Prizes at the Budapest International String Quartet Competition in 1978 and the Bratislava Competition in 1981. The Quartet made its North American debut tour in 1982. Violinist Edward Dusinberre joined the Quartet in 1993 and violist Roger Tapping in 1995. Of the original ensemble, violinist Károly Schranz and cellist András Fejér remain. Violist Geraldine Walther replaced Mr. Tapping in August, 2005. In addition to its residency at the University of Colorado, the ensemble is also a Resident Quartet at the Aspen Music Festival and School, and in 2005, its members were named Associate Artists of the South Bank Center in London. In 2001, The Takács Quartet was awarded the Order of Merit of the Knight's Cross of the Republic of Hungary.

The Takács Quartet appears by arrangement with Seldy Cramer Artists, and records for Hyperion and Decca/London Records.

The Takács Quartet is Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Colorado in Boulder and are Associate Artists at the South Bank Centre, London

http://www.takacsquartet.com

Press Quotes:

"The Takács have the ability to make you believe that there’s no other possible way the music should go, and the strength to overturn preconceptions that comes only with the greatest performers." --Harriet Smith, Gramophone Magazine, November 2006

"They are currently the greatest string quartet in the world, and their recordings of the Bartok and the Beethoven quartets for Decca remain the finest to have appeared on disc for many years." --Andrew Clements, London Guardian, September 29, 2006

"...The quartet exuded authority, intensity, and deep musical understanding in a challenging program that, by its end, left the audience emotionally spent." --Diana Burgwyn, The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 6, 2006

Series Archives

Florestan Trio 10/20/06

Krystian Zimerman, piano 10/25/06

Pei Yao Wang, piano, and Friends 11/17/06

Paul Jacobs, organist 12/03/06

Christianne Stotijn, mezzo-soprano and Joseph Breinl, piano 01/19/07

Paul Lewis, piano 01/26/07

Pieter Wispelwey, cello and Dejan Lazić, piano 02/16/07

Paul Lewis, piano 03/09/07

Ingrid Fliter, piano 03/18/07

Julia Fischer, violin and Milana Chernyavska, piano 04/08/07

Takács Quartet 04/13/07

Lise de la Salle, piano 05/02/07

Paul Lewis, piano 05/11/07