Haydn: String Quartets Opus 71

Description

Product Description These quartets date from 1793 and were written when Haydn returned home to Vienna after a visit to London which had cemented his international fame as a composer and public figure. The composer wrote a set of six string quartets for Count Anton Apponyi, a chamberlain at the Imperial Court. The set was broken up into two groups of three and sold to separate publishers, thus becoming the Op 71 and Op 74 Quartets, both released this month by the acclaimed Takacs Quartet. The quartets possess an orchestral sonority, and the frequent modulations, dynamic variations and increasingly virtuosic writing can be derived from elements of the six London Symphonies. They demonstrate the composer’s astonishing elegance, lyricism and his immense skill in fusing the profound with the light-hearted. In these compelling interpretations the Takacs Quartet display an absolute unanimity of tone and style and cement their reputation as one of today’s greatest string quartets. Review 'Takács Quartet delivers these works with commanding verve and style, often casting novel perspectives on pieces which deserve to be far better known than they actually are … Op 71 No 2 has at its heart one of the most radiant Adagio slow movements to be found among Haydn's later quartets … and it is played here with exceptionally beautiful tone and unerring refinement by the Takács Quartet' --GramophoneCD OF THE WEEK Haydn string quartets,Opp 71 and 74 Takacs Qt Hyperion CDA67793/67781(2 separate discs) Two decades have passed since this great, originally all-Hungarian ensemble released recordings of Haydn's late quartets on Decca; the six of Op76,three of Op77,and the single, unfinished fragment Op103.Now, with a new record company, and after several changes of personnel- the second violinist, karoly Schranz, and the cellist, Andras Fejer, remain constants-they appear to be working their way backwards through the father of the strng quartet's oeuvre for the medium.Written between Haydn's two visits to London, opuses 71 and 74 were destined for public performance by the quartet led by Johann Peter Salomon,the man who brought the great Viennese composer to the British capital an commissioned his astonishing series of London symphonies. Each if these brilliant works, which show Haydn at the peak of his powers as both artist and entertainer, begins with a sit up and listen motif-and,like Mozart's great set of six quartets dedicated to Haydn, they were conceived to please connoisseurs and amateurs alike. Now led by the Englishman Edward Dusinberre-who relishes the virtuosity Haydn demanded of Saloman the Takacs play this ever-suprising music with their characteristic imagination, contrapuntal rigour,sensitivity to texture and colour, and, in the dizzying finales, wit. They are the epitome of Goethe's four intelligent conversationalists, always fresh in their response to Haydn's astonishing inventiveness. --Sunday Times 04/12/11THE STRAD RECOMMENDS These two discs are a constant and rewarding delight. Let us hope that more will be along soon. (Review for this and the Op.74 recording) --The Strad,Dec'11