Newsday, January 2005

Postmodern thought promotes mistrust of "grand narratives": versions of events that hew to certain foreseeable patterns. That artists' work develops inexorably from simple to complex, from orthodox to transcendent, with their final creations always topping their early efforts, is one example of a "grand narrative."

Beethoven's sixteen string quartets, composed over a quarter-century, do seem to trace such a trajectory. Perhaps the most revered works in the chamber music canon, they range from the Opus 18 quartets of 1798-1800, with their nods to Haydn and Mozart, to the convention-shattering creations of Beethoven's last years. These include the hermetic Opus 131, whose seven movements range in length from mere seconds to fifteen minutes; and Opus 130, whose original finale, the roiling "Grosse Fuge," Beethoven replaced when his contemporaries complained of its rigors.

Surprisingly, then, members of the Takács Quartet—violinists Edward Dusinberre and Károly Schranz, violist Roger Tapping and cellist András Fejér—question this long-established account of Beethoven's career. The quartet, whose Decca recording of Beethoven's middle quartets won both Grammy and Gramophone awards and whose probing and vigorous set of the late quartets is being released next week, opens a concert cycle of the complete Beethoven quartets on Sunday at Alice Tully Hall.

"Our attitude is that the 'poor little early quartets' are unjustly looked down upon," said cellist Fejér, speaking by phone from Colorado.

Dusinberre concurred: "The Opus 18 quartets are wonderfully radical in their own right." He cited the opening to the last movement of No. 6, with the title "La malinconia." "Beethoven creates this amazing sense of depth, and he doesn't try to resolve it. He just moves away from it to something else."

Now in its 30th season, the Takács Quartet has played a Beethoven cycle fifteen times, Fejér estimates. For Dusinberre, the challenges never wane. "The Beethoven quartets are the hardest to play. If you take the last movement of Opus 127, there are so many lines going on. To create a clarity so that people can actually have a sense of what they should be listening to—that balancing is very difficult."

Sunday's concert, like the others in the series, mingles quartets from Beethoven's early, middle and late periods. "The development that Beethoven had as a composer is unparalleled," Dusinberre said, "so it seems nice to allow any audience member on any particular night to hear that very dramatic change."

The bubbly Fejér cast the journey in more sensual terms. "It combines the difficulty of Bartók with the emotional involvement of Brahms and the occasional dolcissimo delight of Mozart—all of it after a sushi lunch!"

WHEN&WHERE The Takács Quartet performs Beethoven's string quartets starting Sunday at 5 p.m. at Alice Tully Hall. Additional concerts on Jan. 11, 21, 23, 28 and 30 and free master class on Jan. 12. Call 212-875-5050 or visit www.lincolncenter.org.