United Kingdom Beethoven, Bartók, Dvořák: Takács Quartet (Edward Dusinberre and Harumi Rhodes [violins], Richard O’Neill [viola], András Fejér [cello]). Levinsky Hall, University of Plymouth, 15.3.2025. (PRB)
Beethoven – String Quartet in F major, Op.18 No.1
Bartók – String Quartet No.3
Dvořák – String Quartet No.10 in E-flat major, Op.51
This was the final concert in this year’s Musica Viva series in the Levinsky Hall, University of Plymouth. Since the inception of the series, Director of Music Bob Taub has brought us an amazing range of musical talent. A concert pianist in his own right, he also performed as soloist and chamber musician. This recital was a real coup: the first stop on the Colorado-based Takács Quartet’s 2025 European Tour.
The series has featured outstanding quartet-playing by the likes of the acclaimed Dante Quartet, twenty years old now, or the Kleio Quartet, a mere six. The Takács Quartet was formed in 1975 by four students at Budapest’s Franz Liszt Academy and named after lead violinist Gábor Takács-Nagy. The ensemble started gaining international accolades as early as 1977. Almost half a century on, the quartet is going strong; cellist András Fejér is the only member of the original four.
The picture shows the players with microphones. Regular patrons will recognise the usual Musica Viva feature: a half-hour pre-concert talk led by Dr Taub. The talks have proved important for the performers, as a wonderful way to bond with the audience before a single note has been played, and for the listener, who gets a unique insight into each performer’s character, away from their respective instrument.
This occasion was special because all four instrumentalists wanted to have their say. There were mini-demos of some of the unusual string effects which Bartók employs in String Quartet No.3, and brief thematic analysis of the other works.
With the large audience suitably primed, the players returned for a vivacious performance of Beethoven’s first quartet from his Op.18 set. Written when the composer was 27-30 years old, it immediately picks up where Haydn and later Mozart left off. Yet even in an early work there are hints of what Beethoven had in store for us in the fifteen quartets to follow, something which the players went to great lengths to reveal as the work unfolded.
In the opening Allegro con brio, within a mere few bars of the exposition, the players set this performance on a high plane with the impeccably precise attention to shared dynamics, articulation and maintaining an ensemble of almost digital precision. All the while, Beethoven’s conception and the work’s abundant musicality were to the forefront.
After the essentially light-hearted opening, the poignant and deeply expressive Adagio affetuoso ed appassionato changed the mood immediately. The players delivered a movement full of plaintive sadness and affectionate lyricism. It was so finely judged that it never descended into mawkish sentimentality.
The Scherzo picks up the humour of the opening, with gruff accents and frequent syncopations, typical of the previous minuet form in Beethoven’s hands. The Finale features contrapuntal passages. The composer showed that, if a strict fugue were required, he was up to the task. The fugato sections were balanced by longer lyrical passages. Everything combined to show how Beethoven’s first official foray into writing string quartets made his competitors, and contemporary audiences, sit up and take notice.
Takács Quartet’s superb performance served a dual purpose. Chamber-music aficionados got almost thirty minutes of sheer delight and enjoyment. It could also be a free masterclass in quartet-playing for any aspiring young quartets present.
It was fascinating to compare the players’ character from the pre-concert talk with the musical manifestation. Englishman Edward Dusinberre, the quartet’s first violin since 1993, is the perfect leader, with clear authority. Harumi Rhodes, born in New Jersey, has a bewitching mix of Japanese, American, Russian and Romanian blood. That may account for her unique role as the quartet’s inner powerhouse and motivator – no ‘second violin’ tag here.
Cellist András Fejér’s benignly avuncular presence tends to remind you of the anchorman in a trapeze act: he gives unfailing support to the high-flyers but can produce a gloriously full tone in any richly melodic cantabile phrase or melody.
Korean-American Richard O’Neill, seated stage left, is an outstanding exponent of that oft-maligned instrument, the viola. He sometimes gave the impression that he was remote from what was happening to his right. He often looked out into the audience, rather than maintaining close eye contact – with the violins in particular. Yet his contribution in every bar was crucial to the music and ensemble. Perfectly at one with his partners, he allowed himself the necessary time and space for individual expression.
All in all, then, the Takács Quartet’s unique magic is very much a product of the players’ highly developed musical expertise, perhaps coloured by their wide-ranging ethnicities and personalities. But the next item on the programme would certainly put their magic to the test, if not to a trial by fire.
The current Musica Viva series has been commemorating the 80th anniversary of the death of Béla Bartók. Each concert featured one of his critical works. His six string quartets are considered a cornerstone of twentieth-century chamber music. Quartet No.3 from 1927 is felt to be one of the most tightly constructed. It is also much shorter that the other five, a tad over 15 minutes. Its four sections are played without a break.
Suppose one drew up a ‘job description’ for a string quartet wishing to aspire to the dizzying heights of performing the Third Quartet. It would include flawless intonation, taut rhythmic control for the most precise ensemble possible, and a faultless knack for balancing tonal and stylistic maintenance, while never seeking to stifle the members’ free spirit and individuality.
Suffice it to say that the Takács Quartet showed themselves, individually and together, equal to the challenging task, even with a substantial margin. It was again a fascinating masterclass and a truly insightful performance – a fine way to become acquainted with the piece.
Dvořák’s String Quartet Op.51 was an apt conclusion to the programme and the series. It was an outstanding foil for Bartók’s work. Both East-European composers incorporated elements of folk music and dance in their oeuvre. Dvořák had already published a collection of Moravian Dances and a set of Slavonic Dances when late in 1897 he was commissioned to write a new quartet ‘in the Slavonic style’ for the Florentine Quartet. The piece, sometimes nicknamed the Slavonic Quartet, blends classical technique with Bohemian folk temperament, specifically the Polka.
This was a toe-tapping performance. Clearly, all four players were having a ball. At times, I thought that the two violinists tried hard to keep both feet firmly on the floor while resisting the highly infectious dance music they were playing – from the strains of the opening Polka, through the second-movement Dumka, and to the Skočná-like Finale (somewhat like an Irish reel).
This was another tour de force of string-quartet playing. It fully justified the Takács Quartet’s worldwide reputation as one of the best ensembles of its kind out there today. The audience clearly felt this too, and they simply were not going to leave it there. The players returned with the second movement from Beethoven’s another quartet in F, his Op.135 – a highly appropriate choice of encore.
We all present at the last of the 2024-2025 Musica Viva concert series without doubt got our money’s worth. Except – I know I was not alone in thinking that – with a little bit of tweaking we could have arrived at an even better closing work: Dvořák’s Piano Quartet No.2 Op.87. It would have served to celebrate Taub’s pianistic collaboration with so many international artists since Musica Viva’s inception. But logistics dictate how challenging this could be in practice, so let us keep in mind the coup it already had been for him to bring this world-class ensemble to the University of Plymouth’s Levinsky Hall.
Philip R Buttall