We’ve grown accustomed to the ensemble face and feel of the lofty fine Takács Quartet around the time of Santa Barbara’s “June gloom” period. Takács, one of the loftier members of the string quartet universe, has held an ongoing spot as the festival-opening act of the summer Music Academy of the West (MAW) season, showing its formidable wares in concert at the Lobero Theatre amid an annual string quartet focus in the MAW calendar.
They have proven to be an ideal party-starter in the Music Academy’s summery world.
Something special this year came, however, when the quartet landed at the Lobero last Friday night amid the milestone-bearing status of its 50th anniversary year. Other quartets have achieved such a status, including last year’s duly toasted Kronos Quartet — the contemporary music championing group we always tend to think of as forever young. The Takács, by contrast, is more of a full-service, style- and era-crossing outfit, at home with the string quartet’s chief architect Haydn — who wisely and logically opened the Lobero program — to music closer to our current age.