The Takács Quartet is within the midst of a winter to spring tour in celebration of the ensemble’s fiftieth anniversary season. It’s an unimaginable milestone on the planet of classical music. The tour’s Toronto live performance takes place February 21 at Koerner Corridor.
The Grammy Award-winning Quartet additionally has a brand new recording that releases on March 28 on the Hyperion label that includes Canadian pianist Marc André Hamelin: Dvorak and Worth Quintets. Marc André Hamelin is a frequent collaborator, as is Stephen Hough, who joins them on two of their tour dates.
Jeremy Denk will carry out in Napa and Berkeley, whereas Sir Stephen Hough takes the stage in Toronto and Princeton. Hough’s first string quartet, Les Six rencontres, which he wrote for the Quartet in 2020, is a part of the repertoire.
The Takács Quartet are: violinists Edward Dusinberre and Harumi Rhodes, violist Richard O’Neill and cellist András Fejér.
We spoke to Edward Dusinberre concerning the quartet and the tour.
Edward Dusinberre: The Interview
“That is my thirty second yr within the group,” begins Dusinberre. “I joined once I was 24.”
When he joined the Quartet, he was the primary “new” member to affix after the founders, Gabor Takács-Nagy, Károly Schranz, Gabor Ormai and András Fejér, creating it in 1970 throughout their scholar days. He places their longevity all the way down to a willingness on the a part of all its members to adapt. “It’s important to embrace that change,” he says.
“In fact, we’ve additionally been very fortunate,” he provides, noting the calibre of the members who’ve joined the quartet since then.
On high of having the ability drift, it’s additionally a social affair. “There’s a whole lot of private abilities that assist.” The easy mantra of being good goes a good distance.
On the work aspect, clear communication is an enormous a part of the bundle. “You may have to have the ability to lead and categorical concepts clearly, however equally in a position to observe,” Edward says. Flexibility is one other key element. “It’s a private ability set.”
As he factors out, if the work course of is environment friendly, the sound could be the primary focus.
“What I really like concerning the work, which can be difficult, is to be people,” he explains. “It doesn’t usually work properly to do issues by majority in a string quartet.” It’s about working in direction of a majority.
With the precise ambiance, working collectively can nonetheless have a spontaneous, adventurous ingredient. “Beneath these circumstances, it’s simpler to say, can we do this tonight?”
It additionally signifies that, on tour, they’ll afford to experiment every now and then throughout reside efficiency. Typically, that will depend on the venue. “Every acoustic modifications it,” he says.
“We’re wanting ahead to Koerner Corridor. That’s a corridor the place you’ll be able to play an amazing dynamic vary.” Dusinberre says the Quartet enjoys the choice of taking part in dramatic contrasts, understanding they’ll mission correctly into the house — and into the viewers’s ears.
Repertoire
The Toronto live performance contains three works:
- Beethoven: String Quartet in F Main, Opus 18 No. 1
- Hough: String Quartet No. 1 “Les Six Rencontres”
- Brahms: Piano Quintet in F Minor, Opus 34 with Stephen Hough, piano
Unusually, Takács might be performing with Sir Stephen Hough in addition to performing Hough’s personal composition with out him.
“I believe he’s exploring in opposition to the setting of Nineteen Twenties Paris,” Dusinberre says. By means of six actions, the work evokes recollections and numerous encounters from vigorous and bustling to personal and intimate. “There’s a way of nostalgia. Stephen writes each splendidly for the quartet and tells tales properly.”
One part is titled The Resort. “It’s not like every resort I’ve ever stayed in,” Edward says with amusing. It features a center part he describes as “a tremendous decadent dance within the center — a burlesque like motion”. In temper, it ranges from despair to the in-your-face upbeat vibe of clowns. “It’s acquired an incredible emotional vary, and it’s very accessible to audiences.”
The Beethoven string quartet is one in every of his earlier works, and a part of his first set of string quartets. “It’s a unprecedented piece.” He factors out that early Beethoven is usually ignored in favour of his mature works. “It’s a tremendous piece in its personal proper.”
Edward mentions the story of the way it was revealed. Opus 18 contains the set of Beethoven’s first six string quartets. Although the F main was not truly written first, the composer’s good friend, and violinist who’d carry out its premiere, Ignaz Schuppanzigh, persuaded him it was the strongest, and to position it first because it was revealed. It’s essential, in that sheet music was a composer’s major technique of distributing their music on the finish.
Dusinberre mentions the humour and the sturdy affect of Haydn that may be discovered within the piece, together with Beethoven’s youthful sense of spontaneity.
“We love taking part in that piece.”
Brahms Piano Quintet is a primary alternative. “At any time when we come again to that — there are a whole lot of good piano quintets on the market, however the Brahms is on one other stage,” Edward says. He factors out Brahms’ ingenious layering of the devices, and the way each finds its personal voice.
“In any other case, the piano quintet can develop into a dense block of sound.”
- Discover tickets and extra particulars concerning the live performance [HERE].
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Anya Wassenberg is a Toronto Metropolis Editor at Ludwig Van. She is an skilled freelance author, blogger and writing teacher.