Takacs Quartet - Brahms: String Quartet & Piano Quintet

The Takacs Quartet�s first CD with Hyperion was heralded as a uniquely successful collaboration: �the best string quartet in the world� working under ideal recording conditions, creating a release that is �a model for what chamber music should be� (The Guardian). They now turn to Brahms�s celebrated Op 51 No 2, a work which the composer held back for years despite frequent requests for it until it had reached his requisite standard of perfection. Brahms�s struggle with the string quartet medium eventually led him to find an intensely personal language for it, with an unmistakable originality of melody and texture.The Takacs Quartet�s recent performance of Brahms�s Piano Quintet in F minor with Stephen Hough elicited the following review: �Hough and the Takacs are about to record this, and the result will be something to listen out for: chamber music does not get much better� (The Guardian). Acclaimed for his concerto and solo playing, Hough is proved here also to be a truly great chamber musician; this recording is the product of a deep musical relationship. The Piano Quintet in F minor is a highly charged work of dark passion, often deeply sombre, yet always suffused with drama, requiring (and receiving here) the highest standards of musicianship.