Takács Quartet - Haydn: String Quartets Opp 42, 77 & 103 (2022)

Posted By: Rtax
Date: Oct. 10, 2022

Takács Quartet - Haydn: String Quartets Opp 42, 77 & 103 (2022)
WEB FLAC (tracks, digital booklet) - 333 | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 184 MB
1:12:42 | Classical | Label: Hyperion

‘Does it need saying that they’re awfully good?’ was The Strad’s rhetorical take on the Takács Quartet’s previous Haydn recordings for Hyperion. With more marvellous Haydn on offer here, it’s a verdict which listeners will certainly share.

In 1799 Joseph Haydn embarked on a series of six string quartets commissioned by Prince Lobkowitz. The composer was in his late sixties, and becoming increasingly frail, and his remaining creative energy was mainly directed towards his second great oratorio, The Seasons, and the last three of the annual Masses he composed for Princess Esterházy. In the event, he managed to complete only two of Lobkowitz’s quartets plus, after a long delay, the middle movements of a further quartet issued as Op 103. Touchingly, the quartet torso contained a reproduction of Haydn’s visiting-card—a quotation from his earlier part-song called Der Greis (The Old Man) setting the words, ‘Gone is all my strength; old and weak am I’. And yet, none of this music betrays the slightest hint of tiredness—on the contrary, it unfailingly shows Haydn at his boldest and most innovative.

One thing is certain about this new recording by the Takács Quartet: you will not hear better string quartet playing anywhere in the world today. The technical perfection can almost be taken for granted, but there is also the warmth and affection of the performances, and the insight into the visionary slow movements, especially the wonderful Adagio of Op 77 No 1. The Decca recording of these pieces by the original all-Hungarian Takács Quartet, now more than 30 years old and long-since deleted, still sounds very well and has perhaps a touch more gypsy exuberance in the finales; but this new version, which throws in the lone small-scale Quartet Op 42 as a bonus, is to be treasured.

These impeccable recordings of Haydn’s final string quartets open with an earlier work, Op 42 from 1785, which acts as a profoundly moving scene-setter—and a reminder of the mastery the composer exercised in a form of which he is regarded the father. The performance of the Adagio here is one of the most beautiful I have heard, and the Takács Quartet take the Presto at a breakneck gallop. Their readings of the two Op 77 quartets are no less insightful and precise—the Presto in the G major is thrillingly effervescent—and the two completed movements of the Op 103, heartbreaking in their evocation both of Haydn’s mortality and his undimmed verve, draw from the Takács performances as wonderful and sonorous as you could hope for.

Tracklist
1. String Quartet in D minor, Op 42 - 1: Andante ed innocentemente (5:18)
2. String Quartet in D minor, Op 42 - 2: Menuetto: Allegro – Trio (2:16)
3. String Quartet in D minor, Op 42 - 3: Adagio e cantabile (3:33)
4. String Quartet in D minor, Op 42 - 4: Finale: Presto (2:40)
5. String Quartet in G major, Op 77 No 1 - 1: Allegro moderato (6:59)
6. String Quartet in G major, Op 77 No 1 - 2: Adagio (6:32)
7. String Quartet in G major, Op 77 No 1 - 3: Menuetto: Presto – Trio (4:12)
8. String Quartet in G major, Op 77 No 1 - 4: Finale: Presto (5:21)
9. String Quartet in F major, Op 77 No 2 - 1: Allegro moderato (7:32)
10. String Quartet in F major, Op 77 No 2 - 2: Menuetto: Presto ma non troppo – Trio (4:45)
11. String Quartet in F major, Op 77 No 2 - 3: Andante (7:15)
12. String Quartet in F major, Op 77 No 2 - 4: Finale: Vivace assai (5:42)
13. String Quartet in D minor, Op 103 - 1: Andante grazioso (5:59)
14. String Quartet in D minor, Op 103 - 2: Menuetto (ma non troppo presto) – Trio (4:36)
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