Composer: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Antonín Dvořák
Performer: Takács Quartet
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Hyperion
Catalogue: CDA68413
Release: 2023
Size: 2.29 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Coleridge-Taylor: Fantasiestücke, Op 5
01. I. Prelude: Allegro ma non troppo
02. II. Serenade: Andante molto
03. III. Humoresque: Presto
04. IV. Minuet and Trio: Allegro moderato
05. V. Dance: Vivace
Dvořák: String Quartet No. 13 in G major, Op. 106 (B192)
06. I. Allegro moderato
07. II. Adagio ma non troppo
08. III. Molto vivace
09. IV. Finale: Andante sostenuto – Allegro con fuoco
10. Dvořák: Andante appassionato in F major, B. 40a
The Takács Quartet has been remarkably consistent, and the addition of a couple of new members doesn’t seem to have affected the group’s track record at all. Consider this release, which made classical best-seller lists in the summer of 2023. It is splendid. One attraction is the set of Fantasiestücke by Samuel-Coleridge Taylor. He has been showing up more frequently on concert programs and recordings, but these are novel, with just two recordings on small independent labels in the catalog ahead of this one. Coleridge-Taylor was still a student at the Royal College of Music when he wrote these short pieces for string quartet, but they clearly showed what was coming. Not only was he able to produce a decent facsimile of Dvořák’s style (sample the Dance finale), but in the second-movement Serenade, he picked up the unusual 5/4 time of the second movement of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, and put his own spin on it. The main attraction is Dvořák’s String Quartet in G major, Op. 106, is even better, with many subtle details in the phrasing married to deep expression. Sample the Adagio ma non troppo slow movement, which has rarely seemed so profound; the opening melody rises to the level of Beethoven’s late quartets here. There is a short early quartet movement to ring down the curtain and superb, idiomatic sound from the Wyastone Estate Concert Hall. This is certain to be counted as one of the top chamber music recordings of 2023.