Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | String Quartet no. 6 in B flat major, Op.18 no.6

The Takács Quartet approaches every work with fresh eyes and enthusiasm even if it is their hundredth performance

A superb evening's chamber music at Wigmore Hall, with American performers introducing brand new music by an American composer. 

The Pacifica Quartet, now in its third year of residency at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has the formidable task of taking up the role occupied by the Guarnieri Quartet, which played there for 43 of its 45 years. The Pacifica is relatively young, a year or so shy of its tenth birthday, but holds the promise of a venerable ensemble in the making, with chops and class to prove it.

Auch am zweiten Abend des Beethoven-Zyklus bleibt das Quartett unübertroffen.

Das Allegretto quasi Allegro war sehr rasch, virtuos, aber nicht geschliffen oder poliert, sondern wild und extrem engagiert, nicht einfach fröhlich, eher launisch-verzweifelt: das Prestissimo bravourös, wie „um das Leben gespielt“.

Une performance transfigurée par une approche chambriste des plus saines, habitant les confins de l’expression, sans chercher à la mitiger. C’est dire notre plaisir d’auditeur !