United Kingdom Haydn and Beethoven: Tákacs Quartet (Edward Dusinberre, Harumi Rhodes [violins], Richard O’Neill [viola] and András Fejér [cello]). Wigmore Corridor, London 15.10.2023. (CSa)

Haydn – String Quartet in D, Op.71 (‘Apponyi’ No.2)
Sir Stephen Hough – Les Six Rencontres: Au boulevard, Au parc, A l’hôtel, Au théâtre, A l’église, Au marché
Beethoven – String Quartet No.8 in E minor, Op.59 No 2 ‘Razumovsky’

Performances by the internationally acclaimed Tákacs Quartet are invariably red-letter day occasions for chamber music afficionados, so their return final week to the platform of Wigmore Corridor after an interval of 5 months in a programme of works by Haydn, Beethoven and Stephen Hough had a distinctly celebratory really feel.

It was a good selection for the Tákacs Quartet to open the programme with Haydn’s String Quartet in D main, Op.71, No.2. Written in 1793, this quartet was one in every of two units devoted to Depend Apponyi, the rich Viennese music lover after whom they had been named. Haydn had now established himself as Europe’s biggest composer and, inspired by the London based mostly impresario and violinist Johann Peter Salomon, sought to succeed in his devoted followers with novel, adventurous and extra extrovert compositions. As a consequence, these works had been particularly meant for the music-loving public in giant live performance venues, reminiscent of these in Hanover Sq. reasonably than for aristocrats within the excluding intimacy of their drawing-rooms. Op.71 No.2 has been described as extra ‘symphonic’ and ‘romantic’ than its predecessors, a high quality given full expression by the group on this wealthy and very important efficiency. From the primary gradual introductory fanfare of the opening motion Allegro, the Tákacs performed with great freshness and dynamism. The primary violin’s virtuosic solo passages (written particularly for Salomon) had been intoned by Edward Dusinberre with diamond tipped precision, whereas second violin, viola and cello – speaking with mild smiles and supportive glances – maintained the underlying dialog with buoyancy and brio. A songful, soulful Adagio of the utmost tenderness and charm was adopted by a witty, humorous and startlingly stunning account of the Menuetto, whereas the Finale, peppered with off-beat accents, introduced Haydn’s little masterpiece to a energetic conclusion.

Subsequent got here a piece specifically commissioned from the quartet’s erstwhile collaborator, the live performance pianist and composer Sir Stephen Hough. Les Six Rencontres is a string quartet comprising six quick actions, every imagining an encounter with members of Les Six. They had been a bunch of Montmartre based mostly composers who, underneath the tutelage of Jean Cocteau, had been energetic in Paris within the Nineteen Twenties. Every motion is meant to symbolize an imaginary assembly with musical luminaries reminiscent of Poulenc, Honegger, Tailleferre, Auric, Durey and Milhaud and in every, Hough sketches atmospheric pictures meant to recommend place and time. Hough factors out that he has centered a ‘burlesque lens’ on French life after the disaster of the First World Struggle. The primary motion entitled Au Boulevard comprises ‘Stravinskian spikes that elbow throughout the 4 devices’ whereas A l’hôtel opens with ‘a bustling fugato’. He describes A l’église as ‘a serene hymn’ performed on muted strings, while the melody in Au marché strikes briskly and busily, like buyers on market day. That is definitely a trendy composition, beautifully performed, however one with a quintessentially English really feel – extra like a go to to put up 1918 Deauville within the firm of Michael Tippett or Lennox Berkeley.

The second half of the live performance was devoted to at least one work, Beethoven’s String Quartet No.8 in E, Op. 59 No.2, the second of three that Beethoven devoted to his patron the diplomat Prince Andrey Razumovsky. The account of the Allegro by the Tákacs Quartet was masterfully managed: infused with gripping urgency and keenness, however by no means melodramatic. The gradual motion, a contemplative Adagio, was deeply expressive and fantastically formed, the textures vivid and the tone lustrous. A fretwork of intricately executed interaction marked the start of the Scherzo adopted by a storm-tossed Russian-themed trio.  Thrilling enjoying right here, safely anchored by András Fejér’s dexterous cello. The Finale was performed with energy and pace as a Presto ought to, and the ultimate rondo, an ecstatic prolonged affirmation of Beethovenian pleasure. The wildly cheering viewers had simply trigger to have fun.

Chris Sallon