"It’s an incredible voyage to go through Bartók’s six quartets," says violist Geraldine Walther, "because they represent a lifetime of work. Before I joined Takács [she was principal violist of the San Francisco Symphony], even though I’d played the Viola Concerto and the Concerto for Orchestra, I didn’t really know Bartók. But after these six quartets, I feel like I know him much better."
The quartet — Edward Dusinberre and Károly Schranz, violins; Walther, and András Fejér, cello — has performed the Hungarian composer's masterpieces many times — before and after their award-winning recording in 1998 without Walther who joined the quartet nine years ago — but to them and to the audience, it always seems new and fresh. They will be performing the cycle in two concerts, on Jan. 25 and Jan. 26 in Stanford's Bing Concert Hall.