On Saturday evening, the quartet, which was founded in 1969, gave a passionate and emotionally charged performance here at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival that the ensemble says will be its last. Read More...— Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim,
The New York Times
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They were always bound to be a class act, this world-renowned group of instrumentalists with forty-four years to their collective name, but they took nothing for granted, not even the famous King’s acoustic. Read More...— The Agent Apsley,
Unofficial Cambridge Film Festival
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Tokyo String Quartet's final Auckland concert drew a large, loyal audience to the Town Hall. The reward was superlative chamber music of a quality rarely savoured in our part of the world. Read More...— William Dart,
The New Zealand Herald
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..for those in the audience who were experiencing the ensemble's artistry for the first time and wondering how its playing compares with its performances of years ago, I can say that the Tokyo Quartet sounds untouched by the passage of time. Its ability to pierce to the heart of whatever work it happens to be essaying is still as authoritative and meaningful as when I first listened to the ensemble in the 1970s. Read More...— Neville Cohn,
The West Australian
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Immaculate in textural clarity and musical thought, the Tokyo Quartet displayed superb economy of expressive utterance, with no inessential emphasis, and no subtlety of nuance omitted. Read More...— Peter McCallum,
WAtoday.com
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Since its formation in 1969 the ensemble has worked to consolidate a distinctive sound, which despite the change of personnel, has retained at its heart the influence of Hideo Saito of the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo.
Professor Saito's focus on crystal-clear communication through gesture resonates through the signature sound quality of the ensemble's perfectly timed chords and the subtly emphasised placing of the cello voice in the ensemble. Read More...— Jennifer Gall,
Brisbane Times
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...the music was as fresh as ever, as though on a never-ending quest of discovery. The shimmering main theme of the first movement emerged like light through mist, and the dialogue...was a profound conversation stripped of all pretence to its essence. Read More...— Peter McCallum,
The Sydney Morning Herald
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As the Tokyo String Quartet played Monday night at Portland State University's Lincoln Hall, you had to wonder: Was it the players' awareness that this was one of their final concerts that made for such an intense experience, or was it heightened attention on the part of a listener who knew this was likely a final live encounter with one of the great quartets of our time? Read More...— James McQuillen,
The Oregonian
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All farewells are sad, especially saying adieu to a group so obviously at the peak of their powers, but this one had a feeling of work completed, and completed well and – in the end, perhaps the greatest gift the Tokyo Quartet has lavished on us – the sense that such a satisfying farewell is possible. Read More...
— Robert Harris,
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
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Saturday’s Fontana Chamber Arts concert was bittersweet. On stage, before a full house at Dalton Center Recital Hall, was the legendary Tokyo String Quartet, poised for another sublime performance in its storied career. Read More...— C.J. Gianakaris,
The Kalamazoo Gazette
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In the midst of an extensive farewell tour, the Tokyo presented a superb program of works by Mozart, Bartok and Mendelssohn Tuesday night for Friends of Chamber Music. A large and supportive audience filled the University of Miami’s Gusman Concert Hall for an evening of great music-making that transcended the sentimentality and nostalgia that inevitably pervade such occasions. Read More...— Lawrence Budman,
Miami Herald
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But the real reason to mourn the impending end of the Tokyo is the quality of its musicmaking. Violinists Martin Beaver and Kikuei Ikeda, violist Kazuhide Isomura (a founding member of the quartet) and cellist Clive Greensmith bring an exceptional level of finesse to what they perform. Read More...— John Terauds,
Musical Toronto
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The hallmarks of the Tokyo style were on welcome display throughout the night. The playing was sophisticated in phrasing and interaction, scrupulous in detail and keenly alert to atmosphere. Read More...— Donald Rosenberg,
The Plain Dealer
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Think you have heard the Ravel Quartet? Think again. The Tokyo players’ performance was like a journey, with exquisite shaping, myriad detail and an almost orchestral sonority at times. Read More...— Mary Ellyn Hutton,
Music in Cincinnati
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This was truly a great and memorable performance. It also helped explain why the TSQ has decided to disband at the end of the current season. Its members want to go out while they are still on top of their game, and so they will. Read More...
— Leslie Gerber,
The Boston Music Intelligencer
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Because of a long professional relationship with co-artistic director Jon Nakamatsu, Tokyo has opened Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival for the past four seasons, and Monday's sold-out hall and general enthusiasm showed that it will be missed. Read More...— Keith Powers,
Cape Cod Times
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If the intention was to quit while strong, and not after fading, as its contemporary the Guarneri did before retiring in 2009, the timing was right: they've still got it. Read More...— James McQuillen,
OregonLive.com
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These days the Tokyo sound is big-boned, rich, with an almost glossy sheen. Read More...— Richard Fairman,
The Financial Times
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The Tokyo String Quartet proved once again on Thursday-night at a Jane Mallett Theatre recital why it is considered to be one of the finest chamber ensembles in the world. Read More...— Musical Toronto
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Each player was a master at manipulating his sound: Notes were variously finished off with vibrato, abruptly stopped, or, in the case of open notes, left to ring. What was most impressive was their lean tone and single-minded approach, the sensation that all four players were somehow one instrument being led by a single artistic hand. Read More...— Peter Dobrin,
The Philadelphia Inquirer
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As the Tokyo quartet nears the end of a major chapter in its history, it shows no sign of weariness. Read More...— Vivien Schweitzer,
The New York Times
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Over the past 40 years, the Tokyo String Quartet has built a well-deserved reputation for rock-solid ensemble playing and immaculate, razor-edged precision. Those enviable qualities were often in evidence Wednesday night at the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater, where the Tokyos opened the 31st season of the Fortas Chamber Music series. Read More...— Stephen Brookes,
The Washington Post
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It's always a special occasion when the Tokyo String Quartet, one of the world's premier chamber music ensembles, comes to town. A moderately sized yet fervent audience at the Folly Theater Friday night seemed to agree as the ensemble, presented by the Friends of Chamber Music, displayed an elegant and finely wrought sound. Read More...— Timothy L. McDonald,
The Kansas City Star
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Tokyo, first formed in 1969, still ranks at the top of existing quartets, despite personnel changes through the years. This particular incarnation - Martin Beaver and Kikuei Ikeda (violins), Kazuhide Isomura (viola) and the impressive Clive Greensmith (cello) - has worked together almost a decade now, and the members respond to each other's skill with profound facility. Read More...— Keith Powerrs,
Cape Cod Times
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There are hundreds of fine string quartets in the world, but the Tokyo is the cream, and the Bathfest was very lucky to catch them on their latest tour. Read More...— Helen Reid,
Bristol Evening Post
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Fit, classy, seasoned, impeccable, the Tokyo scaled the dizzying heights of that Mount Everest of the repertoire - the Quartet in B-flat, Op. 130, with its original finale in place, the nearly insurmountable, bow-shredding Great Fugue - and never put a foot wrong. Read More...— Ken Winters,
Globe and Mail (Toronto)
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Given the high profile of the performers, it was no surprise that this BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert was a sell-out. The performances were simply sublime. This was music making of the very highest calibre, a pleasure to hear from first to last. Read More...— Colin Clarke,
MusicWeb International- SEEN AND HEARD Concert Review
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It was hard not to be carried away by the amazing virtuosity of the playing that never seemed to falter in the smallest detail.
The balance and blend were, for all intents and purposes, perfect
All four movements (of the Debussy) were superb, but even at that the slow movement, the third, was outstanding, probably the most beautiful rendition that this listener has heard.
Read More...
— Richard Todd,
The Ottawa Citizen
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Unlike so many young (and not-so-young) performers who aim to reinforce their contact with audiences with the help of visually ostentatious display, the Tokyo Quartet is refreshingly loath to grandstand even during moments when the music takes a bombastic turn. Endowed with irreproachable technique and armed with four sumptuous Stradivariuses, they seize upon the attentive listener with the sheer force and integrity of their gimmick-free musical vision. Read More...— Christopher Moore,
Globe and Mail
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— Leslie Gerber,
Boston Musical Intelligencer
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