Brahms: String Quartet Op. 67; String Quartet Op. 51/1

New recordings by the Takács Quartet have become important landmarks in the musical calendar. This second disc of Brahms string quartets looks set to repeat all the commercial and critical success of their first. It took twenty years for the famously self-critical Brahms to release his Op. 51 string quartets for publication. Despite frequent requests, they were held back until they had reached his requisite standard of perfection. It is clear that Brahms's struggle with the string quartet medium eventually led him to find an intensely personal language for it, with an unmistakable originality of melody and texture. The supreme virtuosity and musicality of the Takács Quartet is heard here in all its glory, shining new light on these evergreen masterworks.