April 18, 1996-Vol27n26: Takacs Quartet performs for UB's 1996 Slee Beethoven Cycle

Takacs Quartet performs for UB's 1996 Slee Beethoven Cycle

By PATRICIA DONOVAN
News Services Staff

THEIR GUTSY and vibrant performances have been known to bring audiences to their feet with excited whistles, hoots and shouts of celebration-proof of the unique power of brilliantly performed chamber music to electrify and amaze. The Tak½cs Quartet, a much-lauded Hungarian ensemble that conducts an international career from its residence at the University of Colorado, performs the last two concerts in the UB 1996 Slee/Beethoven String Quartet Cycle.
Concert V took place Wednesday and VI will be held at 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 18, in Slee Concert Hall on the North Campus.
Tickets are $10, $8, $5 and $4 and can be obtained through the UB Center for the Arts ticket office (645-ARTS) and at Ticketmaster outlets, including Kaufmann's and Movies Plus. Call 852-5000 for Ticketmaster information.
The April 18 program will feature the Quartet in C Minor, Op. 18, No. 4; Quartet in F Major, Op. 135 and the Quartet in E Minor, Op. 59, No. 2, one of the three Rasoumovsky quartets, each of which incorporates a Russian theme. They are dedicated to Count Rasoumovsky, Russian ambassador to Vienna, who played second violin in his own quartet and tried out Beethoven's chamber music for the composer.
Critics here and abroad have proclaimed the Tak½cs Quartet a superbly skilled, bold, passionate, discerning performance ensemble. The group has achieved international prominence, performing an annual series of concerts in London, Paris and Washington, D.C., as well as regularly receiving ovations at the world's leading festivals, from Mostly Mozart to Salzburg.
The players perform on a matched 16th-century set of Amati instruments that produce a gorgeous vibrant tone: Edward Dusinberre, first violin; Karoly Schranz, second violin; Roger Tapping, viola, and Andras Fejer, cello.