Takacs Assad Labro Takács Quartet

• Bryce Dessner (b. 1976):
• 1Dessner: Circles05:49
• Clarice Assad (b. 1978):
• 2Assad: Pendulum: I. Luminous04:43
• Julien Labro:
• 3Labro: Meditation No. 108:22
• Milton Nascimento (b. 1942):
• 4Nascimento: Cravo e canela05:27
• Clarice Assad:
• 5Assad: Constellation11:36
• Kaija Saariaho (1952 - 2023):
• 6Saariaho: Nocturne05:24
• Clarice Assad:
• 7Assad: Clash12:34
• Total Runtime53:55

Info for Takacs Assad Labro

My friend Clarice Assad called me out of the blue a few months after our album Confessions earned a GRAMMY® nomination. Clarice had written the title tracks on the album, which Laura Strickling sang magnificently. “Bob,” Clarice said, “I have an idea….” I have learned that anytime Clarice has an idea, I’m interested. “I wrote a piece for Takács Quartet and bandoneón virtuoso Julien Labro. It’s a wild piece. The five of them have been performing it all over the world on tour, and I think you would like it. Actually, I know you would like it. Julien also wrote a companion piece, and the third work is by Bryce Dessner. I think you know Bryce; he lives in Paris. What a trio!” I responded that it sounded wonderful. “I want you to record these three works, plus another piece I have in mind for violin and piano. When can we do it?” Hence began one of Yarlung’s most adventurous (and I hope you will agree, successful) collaborations in the label’s nineteen year history.

My first two calls were to Yarlung underwriters Raulee Marcus who has worked with Yarlung on several projects, and executive producer J Schlichting who serves on Yarlung’s board of directors. Raulee and I brainstormed about how we might record this album at the University of Colorado, Takács’ home base in Boulder. Initially that worked best for the Quartet’s schedule. J and his wife Helen agreed to underwrite much of the album and serve as executive producers, as well as commission a new work by Clarice for Takács violinist Harumi Rhodes with Clarice on piano. After a few more phone calls, Harumi asked that we move the recording to Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa where the quartet performs often, and where Yarlung has made so many successful recordings. Aaron Egigian found an opening on April 12th and 13th, 2023 in Samueli Theater at Segerstrom and the excitement started to build. Raulee made calls and did her underwriting consortium magic to encourage other close friends to fund the remaining costs for the project, fly our five musicians to California and even pick them up from the airport. Raulee makes things happen.

Julien’s Meditation No. 1 elicits the intoxicating tango rhythms of South America and Clarice’s Luminous and Cravo e Canela remind us why Brazilian jazz continues to be one of the world’s favorites. Assad’s three-movement Constellation for Harumi Rhodes on violin and Clarice on piano evokes Clarice’s nuclear family and two young daughters.

Takács Quartet: Edward Dusinberre and Harumi Rhodes, violins, András Fejér, cello; Richard O’Neill, viola

This album helps honor and celebrate the upcoming 50th Anniversary of the extraordinary Takács Quartet, formed in the mid 1970s at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest by Gabor Takács-Nagy, Károly Schranz, Gabor Ormai and András Fejér. András remains cellist to this day. He was one of the original music student founders of the quartet, which would become one of the highest-ranked and best-loved string quartets in history. The group received its first international attention in 1977, winning First Prize and the Critics’ Prize at the International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France. The Quartet also won the Gold Medal at the 1978 Portsmouth and Bordeaux Competitions and First Prizes at the Budapest International String Quartet Competition in 1978 and the Bratislava Competition in 1981. The Quartet made its North American debut tour in 1982.

The Takács originally recorded for Hungaroton and later for Decca, for whom they released many recordings including award-winning interpretations of the Bartók and Beethoven String Quartets. The ensemble now records for Hyperion and has released an extraordinary discography including works by Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, Schubert, Brahms, Coleridge-Taylor, Dvořák, Hough, Dutilleux and Ravel. This release is the Quartet’s first Yarlung album. (Bob Attiyeh, producer)

Takács Quartet:
Edward Dusinberre, violin
Harumi Rhodes, violin
Richard O’Neill, viola
András Fejér, cello
Julien Labro, bandoneón

Takács Quartet
The world-renowned Takács Quartet is now entering its forty-ninth season. Edward Dusinberre, Harumi Rhodes (violins), Richard O’Neill (viola) and András Fejér (cello) are excited about the 2023-2024 season that features varied projects including a new work written for them. Nokuthula Ngwenyama composed ‘Flow,’ an exploration and celebration of the natural world. The work was commissioned by nine concert presenters throughout the USA. July sees the release of a new recording of works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Dvořák for Hyperion Records, while later in the season the quartet will release works by Schubert including his final quartet in G major. In the Spring of 2024 the ensemble will perform and record piano quintets by Price and Dvořák with long-time chamber music partner Marc-Andre Hamelin.

As Associate Artists at London’s Wigmore Hall the Takács will perform four concerts featuring works by Hough, Price, Janacek, Schubert and Beethoven. During the season the ensemble will play at other prestigious European venues including Berlin, Geneva, Linz, Innsbruck, Cambridge and St. Andrews. The Takács will appear at the Adams Chamber Music Festival in New Zealand. The group’s North American engagements include concerts in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, Vancouver, Ann Arbor, Phoenix, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Portland, Cleveland, Santa Fe and Stanford. The ensemble will perform two Bartók cycles at San Jose State University and Middlebury College and appear for the first time at the Virginia Arts Festival with pianist Olga Kern.

The members of the Takács Quartet are Christoffersen Fellows and Artists in Residence at the University of Colorado, Boulder. For the 23-24 season the quartet enter into a partnership with El Sistema Colorado, working closely with its chamber music education program in Denver. During the summer months the Takács join the faculty at the Music Academy of the West, running an intensive quartet seminar.

In 2021 the Takács won a Presto Music Recording of the Year Award for their recordings of string quartets by Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, and a Gramophone Award with pianist Garrick Ohlsson for piano quintets by Amy Beach and Elgar. Other releases for Hyperion feature works by Haydn, Schubert, Janáček, Smetana, Debussy and Britten, as well as piano quintets by César Franck and Shostakovich (with Marc-André Hamelin), and viola quintets by Brahms and Dvorák (with Lawrence Power). For their CDs on the Decca/London label, the Quartet has won three Gramophone Awards, a Grammy Award, three Japanese Record Academy Awards, Disc of the Year at the inaugural BBC Music Magazine Awards, and Ensemble Album of the Year at the Classical Brits. Full details of all recordings can be found in the Recordings section of the Quartet's website.

The Takács Quartet is known for its innovative programming. In 2021-22 the ensemble partnered with bandoneon virtuoso Julien Labro to premiere new works by Clarice Assad and Bryce Dessner, commissioned by Music Accord. In 2014 the Takács performed a program inspired by Philip Roth’s novel Everyman with Meryl Streep at Princeton, and again with her at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto in 2015. They first performed Everyman at Carnegie Hall in 2007 with Philip Seymour Hoffman. They have toured 14 cities with the poet Robert Pinsky, and played regularly with the Hungarian Folk group Muzsikas.

In 2014 the Takács became the first string quartet to be awarded the Wigmore Hall Medal. In 2012, Gramophone announced that the Takács was the first string quartet to be inducted into its Hall of Fame. The ensemble also won the 2011 Award for Chamber Music and Song presented by the Royal Philharmonic Society in London.

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, while all four were students. The group received international attention in 1977, winning First Prize and the Critics’ Prize at the International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France. The Quartet also won the Gold Medal at the 1978 Portsmouth and Bordeaux Competitions and First Prizes at the Budapest International String Quartet Competition in 1978 and the Bratislava Competition in 1981. The Quartet made its North American debut tour in 1982. Members of the Takács Quartet are the grateful beneficiaries of an instrument loan by the Drake Foundation.

Booklet for Takacs Assad Labro