Takács Quartet - Beethoven: The Middle Quartets (2002)

Hard as it is to believe, Decca has never released a complete cycle of all Beethoven's string quartets. But then Decca has never been a chamber music label: it has had a history of spectacular opera and orchestral recordings, but most of its string quartet recordings were quietly released on its budget label. And even at a budget price, no Decca artist ever took on the whole Beethoven cycle. Thus, this recording of Beethoven's Op. 59 and 74 quartets by the Takács Quartet is the first of a projected cycle of all the Beethoven quartets ever undertaken by a Decca artist. It was worth the wait. The Takács' combination of two Hungarian and two English players has taken some time to settle, but the group is now at the top of its form with the edgier attacks of the English players wholly fused with the warm sonorities of the Hungarians. From a technical point of view, their performances are easily the equal of the best ever recorded: listen to their reckless but brilliant dash through fugue at the end of Op. 59/3. More importantly, their interpretations rival the best ever recorded: the emotional depths of the Adagio molto e mesto from Op. 59/1 and the starry heights of the Molto adagio of Op. 59/2 are as abysmal as they are sublime. And most importantly, all of the Takács' performances are ideally scaled: the intellectual and spiritual power of their Op. 59 quartets is matched by the graced and elegance of their Op. 74 quartet. If it has taken more than half a century for Decca to start a cycle of the Beethoven quartets, hopefully it will not take another half century to finish this one.