Concert review: Takács Quartet, Marc-André Hamelin (piano)

The renowned Takács Quartet may be celebrating its 50th anniversary next year but in this concert it came up playing fresh as a daisy. Wolf’s Italian Serenade sprang into life, perhaps not ‘molto’ vivo, but with no shortage of fleet lightness.

Florence Price’s A minor Piano Quintet was among the composer’s manuscripts discovered in 2009 in an abandoned Illinois house. Now joined by Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin, the quartet impressively melded the Romantic and bluesy/Spiritual idioms, with Hamelin sweeping into the first to present the yearning Dvořákian earworm that dominates the movement. The Andante con moto’s soulful chorale oozed blissful warmth. After the jaunty Juba of the third movement (a popular dance Price used in a number of works), the finale offered more lightness, as well as equal measures of nimbleness and energy.

In Dvořák’s Piano Quintet in A major, founding Takács member András Fejér’s brooding opening cello solo was countered with sweetness by first violin Edward Dusinberre. The slow section of the second-movement Dumka brought a rich string sound shot through with Hamelin’s crystalline touch. The Scherzo sparkled in its outer sections and floated in its Trio, while the finale drove ineluctably towards its fugue. Though effortless on the surface, these performances were clearly shaped by deep experience and commitment.

EDWARD BHESANIA