Benjamin Britten - String Quartets Nos. 1, 2 & 3 (Takács Quartet)

Information

Composer: Benjamin Britten

1. String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 25: 1. Andante sostenuto - Allegro vivo
2. String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 25: 2. Allegretto con slancio
3. String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 25: 3. Andante calmo
4. String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 25: 4. Molto vivace
5. String Quartet No. 2 in C major, Op. 36: 1. Allegro calmo senza rigore
6. String Quartet No. 2 in C major, Op. 36: 2. Vivace
7. String Quartet No. 2 in C major, Op. 36: 3. Chacony: Sostenuto
8. String Quartet No. 3, Op. 94: 1. Duets: With moderate movement
9. String Quartet No. 3, Op. 94: 2. Ostinato: Very fast
10. String Quartet No. 3, Op. 94: 3. Solo: Very calm
11. String Quartet No. 3, Op. 94: 4. Burlesque: Fast, con fuoco
12. String Quartet No. 3, Op. 94: 5. Recitative and Passacaglia (La Serenissima): Slow

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

Date: 2013
Label: Hyperion
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA68004

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Review

Takács Quartet lunge into the 20th century with Britten

Britten’s music oddly became more alive in the 1970s, after a long period of increasing solemnity following the failure of Gloriana and the Snape Maltings fire in the late 1960s. His three numbered quartets (there were many much earlier ones, relegated to his ‘drawer of horrors’) conveniently bookend this difficult period and illustrate the coherence through his output that makes it easier to understand his contribution on a purely artistic scale. The pieces naturally suit the assertive tone of the Takács Quartet, who are skilfully able to maintain a thread of musical argument not only through each individual quartet but through the collection as a whole. The opening movement of the First Quartet is played in a way that turns the music into a work of real beauty at the same time as bringing out the fragmented melodies, which Britten gives to the listener piecemeal, with all the acidity of the subject in a Shostakovich symphony. Their bow changes are emphasised enough to feel the difference Britten intended there to be within the space of a single note, rather than it being all about effect: in separating the notes in that way they have created a structure and outline of the melody (apparent and hidden) that creates a greater musical sense. The last quartet, although resolutely refusing to be optimistic, still has an energy that belies the ill health from which Britten was suffering when he wrote it. Its passacaglia is the plainest playing on the disc, with the Takács leaving the music alone to make its own sad journey, and the listener unsure at the end whether to feel hope, or just hopeless.

-- Caroline Gill, Gramophone

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine  PERFORMANCE: **** / RECORDING: ****
The Strad  THE STRAD RECOMMENDS
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/Nov13/Britten_quartets_CDA68004.htm
http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_cd_review.php?id=11748
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/nov/14/britten-string-quartets-nos-1-2-3-review
http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/Review/373773,britten-string-quartets-tak-cs-string-quartet.aspx
http://www.allmusic.com/album/benjamin-britten-string-quartets-nos-1-3-mw0002587278
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/String-Chamber-Music/Britten-Quartets-Tak%C3%A1cs-Quartet-Hyperion-CDA68004-Dusinberre/B00FBE94GG
https://www.amazon.com/Britten-String-Quartets-Takacs-Quartet/dp/B00FBE94GG

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Benjamin Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British classical music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music, orchestral and chamber pieces. Over the next 28 years, he wrote 14 more operas, establishing himself as one of the leading 20th-century composers in the genre. Britten's other works range from orchestral to choral, solo vocal, chamber and instrumental as well as film music. Britten was also a celebrated pianist and conductor, performing many of his own works in concert and on record.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Britten

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Takács Quartet is a string quartet, founded in Hungary, and now based in Boulder, Colorado, United States. In 1975, four students at the Music Academy in Budapest, Gábor Takács-Nagy (first violin), Károly Schranz (second violin), Gábor Ormai (viola), and András Fejér (cello) formed The Takács Quartet. Current members include: Edward Dusinberre & Károly Schranz (violins), Geraldine Walther (viola), and András Fejér (cello).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tak%C3%A1cs_Quartet

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