Takacs Quartet

Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in B flat, Op.71 No.1
Béla Bartók: String Quartet No.3
Interval
Bedrich Smetana: String Quartet No.1 in E minor (From my Life)

The Takács Quartet has been described by The Times as 'four very distinct personalities... fused into the world's greatest string quartet'.

Bartók's masterful quartets have been a staple of the Takács Quartet's repertory for decades; with a shared Hungarian heritage, the ensemble has a close affinity to his music. Despite being written as one relatively short, continuous movement, Bartók's Third Quartet is densely packed with harmonically adventurous ideas and fluctuating tempi.

Featuring writing of extraordinary richness, Smetana's First String Quartet (1876) is a vivid musical diary of the composer. The deeply expressive music recalls various episodes from the Smetana's life, including his joy at first falling in love, his passion for dancing and his devastating grief at the onset of deafness.