HAYDN: String Quartets Op 77, No. 1 & 2, Op. 103 - Takacs Quartet

The high spirits of the opening movement of Haydn’s String Quartet, Op. 77 No. 1 are totally infectious and the playing of the ‘original’ Takacs Quartet is without peer – with sweep and a vocalism so particular to their ensemble.

‘The Takacs Quartet come into their own in the lusty, swinging Menuettos, kicking all the time over into the spirit of scherzo. Gabor Takacs-Nagy’s first violin, thrilling throughout in its diamantine intonation, leaps from open string to the heights for the Minuet of No. 1, and finds a nice balance of balm and fragmentation in the Op. 103 movements.’ Gramophone

FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN
String Quartet in G major, Op. 77 No. 1
String Quartet in F major, Op. 77 No. 2
String Quartet in D minor, Op. 103 (incomplete)

Takács Quartet
Gábor Takács-Nagy, violin I
Károly Schranz, violin II
Gábor Ormai, viola
András Fejér, cello