“They are not for you, but for a later age!” So wrote Ludwig van Beethoven about his Op. 59 quartets, but the sentiment applies to all of the great composer’s quartets. His artistic odyssey is considered one of humanity’s great achievements, the musical equivalent of the building of cathedrals.
Composed against the turbulent backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars and their aftermath, this radical music is as invigorating now as it was for its first performers and audiences. The Takács Quartet returns for the third and fourth installments of their six-concert cycle this season.