Takács Quartet at Cambridge Music Festival

The Takács Quartet makes a welcome return to Cambridge Music Festival, straight from a two-night run of this programme in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. 'Classical music doesn't get more life-enhancing than this', says The Guardian of the Colorado-based quartet while BBC Music suggests 'You will not hear better string quartet playing anywhere in the world today.'

In 1792, Haydn returned from his first successful tour to London. There he had established his celebrity status and also saw the string quartet move from the court and small salons into larger, public concert halls. As a result, the Op74 quartets, written on his return to Vienna, sound almost orchestral in their scale, along with bold, attention-grabbing ideas – the ‘Rider’ nickname comes from the finale’s bouncing theme.

Beethoven considered his Opus 131 the ultimate achievement of chamber music. On hearing it performed, Schubert declared: ‘After this, what is left for us to write?'.

These works frame a new Takács commission from Grammy-nominated Brazilian-American composer Clarice Assad.

more about Cambridge Music Festival

In a city buzzing with live music, CMF explores the best the classical world has to offer and presents it to the people of Cambridge.

We book artists whose touring schedule usually misses out smaller cities, and we select intriguing repertoire that tells a story: from Mozart masses to14th-century middle eastern music; and from Shostakovich quartets to new commissions for percussion. We invite a wide range of international musicians and ensembles for intimate recitals, chamber concerts and larger events with dozens of performers on stage. We’re the only classical promoter in the city to offer this variety and high standard on a regular basis.

CMF has undergone different models since its foundation in 1991, and is now run as a twice-annual series presenting classical music in bold, imaginative and inspiring ways.

For forthcoming events and to sign up to the email newsletter, go to cambridgemusicfestival.co.uk.

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Artists performing live

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