Takács players dissect and reassemble the string quartet with new Assad piece
By David Wright
“The interpersonal dynamics of a professional string quartet have intrigued listeners ever since Joseph Haydn pioneered the genre two and a half centuries ago. How do four top-drawer musicians, with years of expensive education and, often, egos to match, manage to put it all aside and “play as one”?
Memoirs by members of famous ensembles, offering a peek inside the mystery, have sold well. Now there is a work for string quartet that tackles the same question, but with music and choreography instead of words.
Clarice Assad’s NEXUS, which received its New York premiere in the Takács Quartet’s concert Wednesday night in Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, had the players literally in motion, circling each other onstage like planets trying to form a solar system. But what the Brazilian-born composer called this group’s “visceral, whole-body approach to musical expression” was in evidence even when they were conventionally seated for quartets by Haydn and Debussy.”
Full Review:
‘Let’s Clarice it up!’: The Takács on Assad’s new commission (The Strad) Violinist Harumi Rhodes on the Takács Quartet’s touring commission, NEXUS, which receives its New York premiere at Carnegie
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