The Takács Quartet is in the midst of a winter to spring tour in celebration of the ensemble’s 50th anniversary season. It’s an incredible milestone in the world of classical music. The tour’s Toronto concert takes place February 21 at Koerner Hall.
The Grammy Award-winning Quartet also has a new recording that releases on March 28 on the Hyperion label featuring Canadian pianist Marc André Hamelin: Dvorak and Price Quintets. Marc André Hamelin is a frequent collaborator, as is Stephen Hough, who joins them on two of their tour dates.
Jeremy Denk will perform in Napa and Berkeley, while 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 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 about the quartet and the tour.
Edward Dusinberre: The Interview
“This is my 32nd year in the group,” begins Dusinberre. “I joined when I was 24.”
When he joined the Quartet, he was the first “new” member to join after the founders, Gabor Takács-Nagy, Károly Schranz, Gabor Ormai and András Fejér, creating it in 1970 during their student days. He puts their longevity down to a willingness on the part of all its members to adapt. “You have to embrace that change,” he says.
“Of course, we’ve also been very lucky,” he adds, noting the calibre of the members who’ve joined the quartet since then.
On top of being able go with the flow, it’s also a social affair. “There’s a lot of personal skills that help.” The simple mantra of being nice goes a long way.
On the work side, clear communication is a big part of the package. “You have to be able to lead and express ideas clearly, but equally able to follow,” Edward says. Flexibility is another key component. “It’s a personal skill set.”
As he points out, if the work process is efficient, the sound can be the main focus.
“What I love about the work, which is also challenging, is to be individuals,” he explains. “It doesn’t generally work well to do things by majority in a string quartet.” It’s about working towards a majority.
With the right atmosphere, working together can still have a spontaneous, adventurous element. “Under those circumstances, it’s easier to say, can we try this tonight?”
It also means that, on tour, they can afford to experiment now and then during live performance. Often, that depends on the venue. “Each acoustic changes it,” he says.
“We’re looking forward to Koerner Hall. That’s a hall where you can play a tremendous dynamic range.” Dusinberre says the Quartet enjoys the option of playing dramatic contrasts, knowing they’ll project properly into the space — and into the audience’s ears.
Repertoire
The Toronto concert includes three works:
- Beethoven: String Quartet in F Major, 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 will be performing with Sir Stephen Hough as well as performing Hough’s own composition without him.
“I think he’s exploring against the setting of 1920s Paris,” Dusinberre says. Through six movements, the work evokes memories and various encounters from lively and bustling to private and intimate. “There’s a sense of nostalgia. Stephen writes both wonderfully for the quartet and tells stories well.”
One section is titled The Hotel. “It’s not like any hotel I’ve ever stayed in,” Edward says with a laugh. It includes a middle section he describes as “an amazing decadent dance in the middle — a burlesque like movement”. In mood, it ranges from despair to the in-your-face upbeat vibe of clowns. “It’s got a great emotional range, and it’s very accessible to audiences.”
The Beethoven string quartet is one of his earlier works, and part of his first set of string quartets. “It’s an extraordinary piece.” He points out that early Beethoven is often overlooked in favour of his mature works. “It’s an amazing piece in its own right.”
Edward mentions the story of how it was published. Opus 18 includes the set of Beethoven’s first six string quartets. Though the F major was not actually written first, the composer’s friend, and violinist who’d perform its premiere, Ignaz Schuppanzigh, persuaded him it was the strongest, and to place it first as it was published. It’s important, in that sheet music was a composer’s primary means of distributing their music in that era.
Dusinberre mentions the humour and the strong influence of Haydn that can be found in the piece, along with Beethoven’s youthful sense of spontaneity.
“We love playing that piece.”
Brahms Piano Quintet is a first choice. “Whenever we come back to that — there are a lot of good piano quintets out there, but the Brahms is on another level,” Edward says. He points out Brahms’ ingenious layering of the instruments, and how each one finds its own voice.
“Otherwise, the piano quintet can become a dense block of sound.”
- Find tickets and more details about the concert [HERE].
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