The Takács Quartet was formed in 1975 at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest by Gabor Takács-Nagy, Károly Schranz, Gabor Ormai, and András Fejér, all students at the time.
Compositional Technique
Haydn's late interest in exploiting more remote key relationships, as seen in these quartets, had a long-lasting influence on Beethoven.
Composition History
Haydn composed his Opp 71 and 74 string quartets, including those on this album, for public performance at Johann Peter Salomon's concerts in London.
Compositional Technique
The 'Rider' nickname for the G minor String Quartet Op 74 No 3 comes from the "bouncing" theme of its finale.
Composer Biography
Count Anton Georg Apponyi, to whom these quartets are dedicated, also invited Beethoven to write a string quartet, though that commission was never carried out.
Composition History
Haydn dedicated these quartets to Count Anton Georg Apponyi, a cultured music lover and accomplished violinist who sponsored Haydn's entry into the Freemasons.
Historical Context
Unlike in Vienna, where string quartets were played privately or in aristocratic salons, public performances of chamber music were an "English speciality" in Haydn's time.
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