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 of whom were students.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Both Bedřich Smetana, considered the father of Czech music, and Leoš Janáček, a brilliant Brno-based maverick, were proponents of a specifically vernacular Czech culture.
Composer Biography
Smetana detailed that the long persistent note in the finale of his String Quartet No. 1 represents the fateful ringing in his ears that announced the beginning of his deafness in 1874.
Composition History
Janáček's String Quartet No. 1 is subtitled 'after Tolstoy's Kreutzer Sonata,' a novella that was initially banned by Tsarist authorities.
Compositional Technique
Janáček's String Quartet No. 2 pushes the players to their limits, using coarse grains, playing on the bridge for severe or wispy sounds, and employing other innovative effects.
Composer Biography
Leoš Janáček had an intense friendship with Kamila Stösslová, to whom he wrote hundreds of letters, and she became the muse for his String Quartet No. 2, 'Intimate letters'.
Composition History
Smetana's String Quartet No. 1, 'From my life,' was written for four instruments to discuss what had significantly oppressed him, despite knowing it would be heard publicly.
