Presto Recording of the Week
6th January 2023
BBC Music Magazine
February 2023
Chamber Choice
Takács Quartet
Hough: String Quartet No 1 'Les Six rencontres'
Dutilleux: String Quartet ‘Ainsi la nuit'
Ravel: String Quartet in F major
If this premiere recording of Stephen Hough’s String Quartet No 1 may be regarded as definitive—the work is dedicated to the Takács Quartet—those of the quartets by Ravel and Dutilleux are no less distinguished.
"This recording really is a joy from start to finish...the Takács Quartet are alive to every inflection in Ravel’s meticulously marked score, so that we live the journeys of each movement with them...Above all, Stephen Hough’s is an unmistakably individual and convincing voice. 5 out of 5 stars" - BBC Music Magazine, February 2023.