Takács String Quartet

December 4, 2016 3:00 pm The Vancouver Playhouse, 600 Hamilton St.

Musicicans

Edward Dusinberre / violin
Károly Schranz / violin
Geraldine Walther / viola
András Fejér / cello

Programme

Ludwig van Beethoven
Quartet in A major, Opus 18 No.5

Quartet in F minor, Opus 95

Quartet in E flat major, Opus 127

The Takács Quartet is a perennial favourite with our audience, and in 2012, Gramophone announced that the group was the first (and only) string quartet to be inducted into its first Hall of Fame. Their irresistible blend of virtuosic technique and engaging personality offer a window into the Hungarian quartet tradition. This all-Beethoven programme will give us the opportunity to hear an early, middle and late period quartet in one concert, played by a group acknowledged as one of the definitive Beethoven interpreters of our time.

If you’re at the concert, be sure to tweet us @FCMVancouver and use hashtag #FCMTakacs!


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String Quartet in A major, Opus 18, No. 5 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Allegro
Menuetto
Andante cantabile con variazoni
Allegro

The six quartets of Opus 18 were written between 1798 and 1801 and dedicated to Beethoven’s friend and admirer Prince von Lobkowitz.

Hear Beethoven’s Quartet in A major, Opus 18 No.5

String Quartet in F minor, Opus 95 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Allegro con brio
Allegretto, ma non troppo
Allegro assai vivace ma serioso
Larghetto espressivo; Allegretto agitato; Allegro

This quartet is the last of five dating from Beethoven’s second (or “middle”) period. Although composed in 1810, it already anticipated the style and mood of his third period quartets written fourteen years later. Although a short work, it is unmatched in Beethoven’s output for its compression and sense of tension. It is the only quartet for which Beethoven supplies a subtitle, “Serioso” – which reflects both the tense, introspective nature of the music and Beethoven’s somber, despondent frame of mind at the time.

Watch the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center perform Quartet in F minor, Opus 95

Quartet in E-flat major, Opus 127 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Maestoso – Allegro
Adagio, ma non troppo e molto cantabile
Scherzando vivace
Finale

Beethoven’s Opus 127 quartet was the first of the late quartets commissioned by Prince Galitzen. Its first performance, given on March 6, 1825, by the Schuppanzigh Quartet, left the audience bewildered and put the critics on their guard; but the next performance was such a success that it led to seven more performances. As with all the late quartets, it took the public half a century to appreciate fully the magnitude of Beethoven’s achievement.

The Emerson String Quartet perform Quartet in E flat major, Opus 127