Customer Reviews

Béla Bartók: The 6 String Quartets - Takács Quartet

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For years I was a card-carrying devotee of the Emerson Quartet's Grammy Award-winning set of these quartets on Deutsche Grammophon. I still love the ESQ's performances: they're wonderfully rhythmic in the more rigid sense of the word, amazingly muscular and clear. The recording is likewise almost microscopically close -- there's no place to hide, and the ESQ has nothing to hide, the performances set a high-water mark of technical perfection. Then I picked up the Takacs Quartet's set. Whereas the ESQ readings come in the tradition of the Juilliard Quartet's groundbreaking set(s), with a very literal interpretative view, the Takacs take the more gypsy-informed approach, more in the vein of the celebrated Vegh Quartet. There is a sense of color and fantasy which I'd previously thought lacking in some of the Bartok quartets, at least in the performances I'd heard live and on CD. The Takacs bring such authority to these pieces, and such a sense of wonder and joy, too. The sound is exemplary, but not with the in-your-face closeness of the DG set. It's like listening to a live concert in a nicely (but not overly) reverberant hall. Whatever set(s) you may already own, or if you're looking for a fabulous introduction to these incredible masterpieces of the string quartet literature, buy this set now -- you will not be disappointed!

Bartok has been called many things, but one thing I wish he would be called more often is a mystic of music. In my over-educated opinion, that is what he was, and that dominated him as a composer, a pianist, an ethnomusicologist and a pedagogue. The problem is that many performers come to this music very naive or, worse, dismissive of this quality of Bartok's genius, and focus too heavily on technical apsects. The result is obvious: a failure to give a proper and authentic voice to the music.

I am sympathetic to the dilemma of any performer tackling these quartets - these are very demanding on a technical level alone. But this does not mean their beauty resides purely in that facet, nor does it excuse any performer for rendering these as a technical or academic exercise. Suffice to say, some performers just don't "get it," and thus ought not attempt these works, if they are not able to met the technical challenge they present and then transcend it in spirit to articulate their fuller beauty.

As a musician who's studied Bartok academically, I am very aware on an intellectual level of how these works relate to Bartok's studies in folk music, and I can easily pick out and analyze his inversions and sequences of folk motifs that populate these works. However, all too often this is something not easily *heard* by the average listener - a tragic irony, seeing much of Bartok's work is so rooted in folk music, which is possibly the most accessible of music idioms. Sadly, this is a mystic's lot: they experience something that is univerally accessible, yet in the process of articulating that experience, those first recieving the message miss the point, get destracted by superficial details, and obscure the beauty and truth of the mystic's message for everyone else. Luckily, music can speak for itself - if the performer doesn't get in the way. So if the performer understands, either consciously or intuitively, that there is a *heart* to these works beyond what he sees written so precisely and techinically on the page (i.e. "gets it"), and strives to articulate this, then that engimatic mysicism of Bartok is unlocked and becomes readily accessible to anyone willing to peer into it.

Fortunately and thankfully, the Takacs Quartet "get it." This is very likely the finest performance of these quartets ever recorded. Without repeating too much of what other reviewers have already said, there is a very genuine spirit and superior command to the Takacs Quartet's performance that makes the very challenging and highly technical quality of these quartets transparent so to reveal, rather than obscure, Bartok's vision. They open up Bartok's quartets in a rare way that allow the listener to "live" inside them, and glaze readily upon their beauty, possibly very closely to how Bartok originally envisioned it. I listened to this recording immediately after listening the 1960's recording by the Novak Quartet, and the difference was astounding. It only vindicated my long standing opinion that Bartok was indeed a mystic of music, and that his unique and very challenging compositions offer much, much more (and for a wider audience) than one might assume from a less inspired performance.

Absolutey, unequivocally recommended.

The Takacs Quartet has produced a powerful version of Bartok's string quartets, the great cycle of the early 20th century. The 3rd, 4th and 5th quartets are sheer modernist genius. The 1st and 2nd are less innovative -- the 1st is in the romantic tradition. The 6th is calm and tragic, written as Bartok prepared to leave Hungary for the USA.

Here are some comparisons of the Takacs to the Juilliard (1981) recording, which is an affordable point of comparison to this set. While the Takacs keeps each quartet intact, it does this by changing the order. The Juilliard has the advantage of presenting them in order, but No. 4 is cut. The Takacs has superb, extensive liner notes describing each quartet and how it was written, while the Juilliard has only perfunctory notes and a less attractive package overall. As for the music, these are very different interpretations. The Juilliard sounds neoclassical -- light, restrained, and emphasizing the ensemble rather than the individual lines. In dramatic contrast, the Takacs Quartet sounds rougher, earthy and fiery by turns. It's a gypsy sound, heavier, thicker, and more passionate than the Juilliard. As far as I know, these are both valid interpretations, highlighting both the rich potential of the scores, and the importance of the players. When it comes to recording quality, though, the Takacs has the clear advantage. It is superbly articulated and balanced, while the Juilliard is top-heavy, slighting the cello (this may be partly responsible for the Takacs sounding more like four individuals).

If you enjoy these quartets, listen to the great string quartet cycle of the late 20th century by Elliott Carter!

I have several recordings of Bartok's quartets and have attended several performances of them, and I have to say this is one of, if not, the best recording of the quartets. My opinion is also strongly influenced by my attendance at the performance of all 6 quartets by the Takacs String Quartet last fall; a performance I will not soon forget. Their intensity was incredibly palpable and, after comparing that performance to another performed by the Julliard String Quartet, the Takacs blow them out of the water! Not that I'm disregarding the enormous prowess of the Julliard quartet, but in both performance and recording, there was an aspect of genuine involvement found in the Takacs that lacked in the Julliard; the latter in recorded and live performance seemed almost aloof (perhaps from many years of performance, which is definitely commendable, as they were the first to perform the whole cycle here in the U.S.). The editorial review was right: this could very well become a standard with regard to Bartok's quartet recordings.

I've recently bought this cycle, after having or listening those by Tokyo String Quartet (DG & RCA), Hagen Quartett (DG), Alban Berg Quartett (EMI), Vegh Qt (Auvidis) and some other versions played by outstanding quartets, like the glorius Arditti Quartet's recording of the Fourth Quartet in Grammavision label.

If I'm thinking about a third way is because Takács shows a middle interpretation between the very hungarian performings of the Vegh Qt and the very "international" or "western" playing of the Tokyo Qt, ABQ or Hagen Qt versions. The Takács Quartet that play in this CD box is formed by musicians from the western tradition and hungarian born players, 50%; something you can feel in their interpretation, which is a bit more objective than Takács' first recording released by Hungaroton, with more hungarian players in the quartet, but still with the taste of the hungarian Bartók tradition, much more close to the popular and folk reminiscences of his music.

I don't hear in this performings the amazing precision of the Tokyo String Quartet in every pizzicatti, glissandi, or technical resource of the works; but, on the other hand, I can say that the musicality and folk sense of some parts it's better done in this Decca recording, which looks much more to the origin of some chords in the folk hungarian music which Bartók so deep has studied. Takács (Decca) bring a more aggressive version, something that makes very complex to have the precision of the more refine and "distant" Tokyo performings. Anyway, technically it's marvellous too, and that's the reason why I give them 4 stars... 5 stars only in heaven...

The conclusion is we are listening a very good performances of the cycle, in style and technique, one of the key works in this genre along the XXth Century; probably between the better.

I bought this CD in preparation for the Takacs Quartet's performance of the Bartok cycle in January of 2005. This recording is absolutely amazing, and it brings out the liveliness and the joy that the members of the Quartet take in playing this piece. Now, make sure you get the chance to see this group live; you will be amazed and astounded by their cohesiveness and energy.

For such complicated music, the Takacs has managed to bring out all the folk and "down-home" roots of Bartok as well as play with utmost precision. A wonderful recording.

That's all there is to say about this set.

It's a MUST have.

There's no need for me to break it down past where the editorial reviews go as far as describing the nuance of the pieces, so just know that there's a sticker that comes on the outside shrinkwrap on this package in some retail stores that says something to the effect of "if you've never heard the greatest cycle of quartets outside of beethoven..." and they are not kidding.

You need these discs.

One popular dictionary of classical music refers to Béla Bartók's 'driving, anxious rhythms, angular melodies, brackingly sharp dissonances, and folklike modal harmonies'. All of which to say, Bartok does not make for easy listening.

If one must or chooses to fall into the hands of Bartók's six string quartets, he may do no better than to surrender himself to a very long drive and the expertise of the Hungary-rooted Takács Quartet. After hearing the Takásc perform in Indianapolis--their vigor in performance means that one is left as much with a *visual* as an aural impression--I invested in this acclaimed presentation of the full cycle of Bartók string quartets.

Something was perturbing the European soul in the first quarter of the 20th century. History suggests a number of motors of this angst, bloodstained and otherwise. There in Budapest, Bartók was working it out in music.

One is struck by the torment of soul that comes through in the early Bártok, a tumultuous note that is sounded with striking clarity and discipline by the Takács. Bartók would eventually emigrate to America and mellow out a bit, but not hint of such sweetening is apparent here. He is interpreted here with precision.

Upon moving on to the Beethoven cycle played by the same quartet, one breathes more deeply, relaxes, indeed even marinates in that earlier master. Not here. Not now.

If your destiny is to know the worried, worrisome Bartók, start here. You may end here as well.

I haven't heard all of these recordings, but I saw the Takács Quartet in Vancouver last year. They played the Sixth quartet, along with some Haydn, and it was fantastic. Bartok as it is truly meant to be played.

I have the Emerson cycle, but after hearing these guys I'm going to order theirs. The Emerson set is akin to holding your hand over a boiling pot of water, but the Takács is like putting your hand down on the burner.