by Stephanie Manning
“At 50, The Takács Quartet Remains As Essential as Ever,” The New York Times declared earlier this year in an article celebrating the group’s semicentennial. We Northeast Ohioans can consider ourselves lucky that the ensemble visits the area regularly — typically as guests of the Cleveland Chamber Music Society.
David Allen’s Times profile highlighted the Quartet’s increased interest in contemporary composers, an attribute quickly confirmed when looking at their recent touring programs. This month, for example, they have been premiering Clarice Assad’s Clash all over the country.
Clash was sadly missing from the Takács’s November 11 appearance at Disciples Church in Cleveland Heights, where they presented a more standard combination of Haydn, Dvořák, and Bartók. But no matter the repertoire, the Quartet’s playing maintained that engaging quality of a group unafraid to take risks and fully express themselves.
Founded in Hungary in 1975 (before eventually defecting to the U.S.), the Takács understandably hold a special affinity for Béla Bartók. They treated the audience to the Hungarian composer’s String Quartet No. 3, emphasizing the piece’s modernism with light, eerie bowing in the Prima parte section. Fierce interjections from viola and cello then accentuated the Seconda parte.
Even amid the contemporary sounds, Bartók’s love for folk music can be heard while listening carefully, and the Takács brought out a certain groove as the composer plays with those folk melodies, later recapping the opening themes before a fast-paced coda.
That angular, 20th-century selection was a complete tone shift from the opening work, Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in g, Op. 74, No. 3. The group gave particular nuance to the dynamic swells, while first violin Edward Dusinberre had fun with the first movement’s playful glissandos. Violist Richard O’Neill frequently gazed out into the audience while playing, lifting his eyebrows as if to say, “Just listen to this!”
The Haydn work’s nickname, “Rider,” comes from its jaunty fourth movement, and for good reason. This finale is a real highlight, and the whole Quartet clearly had fun with the big accents and the deliberate pauses. At the tail end, they gave a flourish so emphatic that the whole room immediately applauded — only for the players to cheekily follow up with the final phrase.
After intermission came Antonín Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 13 in G, one of the composer’s last works for this instrumentation. Bursting with melodies, this piece accentuated the group’s ability to really inhabit the music. The rich and tasteful cello playing from András Fejér — the Takács’ remaining original member — was so consistent that it was difficult to choose a favorite moment.
Second violinist Harumi Rhodes sounded almost viola-like in the opening Allegro moderato, an optimistic movement that felt like its own self-contained world. But the mood wasn’t always sunshine, as the mournful second movement provided some time to reflect before a perfect calm descended at its conclusion.
The vivacious third and fourth movements fed off the Quartet’s bottomless well of energy before their matching encore, the playful second movement of Claude Debussy’s String Quartet. Truly, the spirit of any Takács performance is simply joyous.
Photo by Ron Werman
Published on ClevelandClassical.com November 20, 2025.
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