Clean, immaculate playing and seamless teamwork are the hallmarks of this quartet, combined with an apparently effortless unanimity in characterising the music they perform. Founded in 1975 at Budapest’s Franz Liszt Academy by violinist Gábor Takács-Nagy with fellow students Károly Schranz (violin), Gábor Ormai (violist) and András Fejér (cello), the Takács Quartet gained international attention two years later at the Evian International Competition, winning both first prize and the Critics’ Prize. Other competition wins followed, and after their first North American tour in 1982, the Takács became quartet-in-residence at the University of Colorado from 1983. Having previously recorded on Hungaroton, the Takács launched its Decca contract by recording the Austro-Hungarian composer Haydn’s Op. 76 quartets (1988-9), but soon showed their versatility in recording French repertoire by Ravel and Chausson with violinist Joshua Bell, cellist Stephen Isserlis and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet (1989). Though the quartet has since had several changes of personnel, they have maintained and even raised their standard, making exceptionally expressive yet polished recordings of Bartók’s six string quartets (rec. 1997) and of Beethoven’s complete cycle (rec. 2002-04). With Hyperion, they have recorded several fine albums, including the complete quartets of Janacek (2015); collaborated with pianist Marc-André Hamelin for Shostakovich’s Quintet (2015) and works by Hungarian Dohnányi (2019); and, with pianist Garrick Ohlsson, recorded works by Elgar and Amy Beach (2020).