Takács Quartet Photo: Ellen Appel
Describing how he composed, Joseph Haydn told his biographer Griesinger, 'I sat down [at the keyboard] and began to fantasize, according to whether my mood was sad or happy, serious or playful. Once I had caught hold of an idea, my whole effort went toward working it out and sustaining it, according to the rules of art.' But ... 'an anxious compliance ... often produces works that are the most lacking in taste and feeling ... in music, the only thing absolutely forbidden is what offends a delicate ear'.
This Quartet is one of the final set of six written when Haydn was in his 60's and, by then, the most famous composer in Europe.
Recorded 4 August 2017 at the Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington by RNZ Concert
Producer: David McCaw
Engineer: Graham Kennedy
