The Kodály Quartet, formed in Budapest in 1966 when its original members met as students at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, has continued to exemplify the greatest standards of the rich Hungarian musical tradition that it has carried on with such extraordinary distinction throughout the world during over four decades of international appearances.
The Kodály Quartet has toured almost every European country, the United States, Central and South America, the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. In addition to the standard classical repertoire, the Quartet regularly performs works written by Hungarian composers such as Kodály, Bartók, Dohnányi and others. In recognition of its achievements the Kodály Quartet has received the Ferenc Liszt Award (1970), Artist of Merit of the Hungarian Republic (1990) and the Bartók-Pasztory Award (1996).
International critics have been lavish with their praise for the Kodály Quartet’s numerous (over fifty) recordings, including the monumental undertaking of the highly acclaimed complete cycles of Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert for Naxos. The Quartet was also honoured with Classic CD magazine’s Award for the best release of 1993 in the chamber music category (Haydn String Quartets Op. 64). For Naxos and Marco Polo the Kodály Quartet has recorded the complete string quartets of Beethoven, Haydn and Schubert and also quartets and quintets by d’Indy, Ravel, Debussy, Schubert, Brahms, Schumann and Bartók. The Quartet’s recording of the Opus 76 Haydn Quartets gained them a Penguin Guide Rosette.
When the Haydn quartet cycle began, the members of the quartet were first violinist Attila Falvay, second violinist Tamás Szabó, viola player Gábor Fias and cellist János Devich. The last three of these were formerly in the Sebestyén Quartet, which was awarded the jury’s special diploma at the 1966 Geneva International Quartet Competition and won first prize at the 1968 Leo Weiner Quartet Competition in Budapest. Since 1971 the quartet has been known as the Kodály Quartet, a title adopted with the approval of the Hungarian Ministry of Culture and Education. Second violinist Erika Tóth joined the Kodály String Quartet in June 2005.
To commemorate the 200th anniversary of Haydn’s death (2009), the Kodály Quartet’s recordings of his Complete String Quartets has been released as a 25-CD Box Set (8.502400) to renewed critical acclaim.
For more information, please visit www.kodalyquartet.com.
