Schubert: String Quartets No. 14 "Death and the Maiden" & No. 13 "Rosamunde"

• Schubert: Death & the Maiden by Franz Schubert (2006-10-12)

Hyperion’s Record of the Month for October marks the debut on the label by the Takacs Quartet. After seventeen years recording for Decca, including multi-awarding-winning cycles of quartets by Beethoven and Bartok, this thrilling ensemble is now embarking on a new relationship with Hyperion; future projects will include works by Brahms, Janacek and Schumann. Schubert’s famous String Quartet, D810, subtitled ‘Death and the Maiden’, is one of the pillars of the repertoire. This new performance is electrifying, and was recorded following a global concert series, enthusiastically welcomed in the press: ‘The Takacs’ reading of the second movement was characterized by unremitting pain and mystery. While three of the musicians intoned the insistent theme of Death in pursuit of the Maiden, Edward Dusinberre’s violin expressed poignantly the Maiden’s tender fragility and rising panic. The final movement, in the form of a somewhat crazed tarantella, was taken at breakneck speed, as if the four musicians were driving wild horses—though they never lost control of the reins. Risk-taking, a Takacs trademark, certainly didn’t fail here.’ We have every confidence that this recording, and the Hyperion/Takacs collaboration in general, will prove to be one of the brightest jewels in the Hyperion catalogue.