“Art demands of us that we do not stand still.” So commented Ludwig van Beethoven on his own late string quartets. No one can argue that the world is far from standing still, and the cycle of Beethoven string quartets presented this year by the Takács String Quartet at Princeton University may represent more than just music. Beethoven composed his repertory of 16 string quartets during some of the most tumultuous decades in world history, and the Takács performance of all the composer’s quartets over six concerts both shows promise for consistency in high-quality music and demonstrates the evolution of the string quartet as a musical form. 

Princeton University Concerts is presenting these six performances in Richardson Auditorium, with ancillary discussions, classes, open rehearsals, and reading sessions to give audiences a complete performance and educational experience. The first concert, performed last Tuesday night in Richardson Auditorium (a second was presented on Thursday night) was a mini-history of Beethoven’s quartets in itself, drawing from the composer’s early, middle and late periods. The Takács cycle is also varying the seating arrangements in Richardson to offer audiences different perspectives on the music and performers. Last Tuesday night’s concert included seating only downstairs in the hall and onstage, placing musicians and audience members on the same level.

For concert performance, Beethoven’s string quartets can be combined in a myriad of ways. The Takács Quartet chose to open their six-concert series with representative works from throughout the composer’s life. Beethoven’s Opus 18, a set of six string quartets, was steeped in the influence of Mozart and Haydn, following all the traditional rules for chamber music of the time. With cellist András Fejér seated between the two violins and viola to anchor the sound of the String Quartet in G Major, the second quartet of Opus 18, the Takács succeeded in making audience members feel as though they were in an early 19th-century private salon. Mr. Fejér supported the ensemble sound with delicate cello playing while violinists Edward Dusinberre and Károly Schranz, and violist Geraldine Walther played with detached bowings and tapered phrases throughout. First violinist Mr. Dusinberre led the songlike second movement, with Mr. Fejér and Ms. Walther adding well-matched rich lines on their respective instruments. With melodic fragments chasing one another among the players, the Takács Quartet showed exact timing while always being light on the strings.

Beethoven’s “Middle Period” stretched classical forms and showed slight hints of the harmonic and compositional shifts paving the way to the Romantic period and sealing Beethoven’s reputation as a musical revolutionary. String Quartet in F minor, Op. 95, subtitled by the composer “Serioso,” showcased the second violin and viola in the first movement, and Mr. Schranz and Ms. Walther brought out elegant lines shaded with occasional chromaticism. The players of the Takács Quartet easily switched from lyrical to more rhythmic passages, and launched the fourth movement “Allegretto agitato” effectively. Audience members could easily hear melodic snippets which later came to life in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

The Takács Quartet closed this opening concert of the cycle with a substantial work from the last few years of Beethoven’s life. String Quartet in Bb Major, Op. 130, dating from 1825, expanded the string quartet form by adding movements and departing from the traditional format. As an opening dark unison line unfolded in the first movement, it was clear that this piece was much more substantial than the previous two heard in this performance, with frequent shifts among tempi. Throughout the quartet’s six movements, the Takács Quartet retained delicacy, creating dynamic swells together and uniformly building intensity. The fourth movement in particular was a graceful, court dance, while the two violins brought out well the long melodic lines of the fifth movement “Cavatina.” The Takács Quartet succeeded in showing that Opus 130 was an innovative string quartet, but one which did not bend the ear too much — those quartets were yet to come from Beethoven and will be heard from the Takács Quartet later in the cycle. For this performance, Takács excluded the original “Finale” for this string quartet — the complex double fugue which became Opus 133 was replaced by Beethoven with a more traditional final movement, but the Takács Quartet will perform Opus 130 again on the final concert, with the Grosse Fuge ending so audiences will be able to hear Opus 130 as Beethoven originally intended. Bring an open mind and open ears to this concert — 19th-century critics condemned the Grosse Fuge, but 20th-century audiences consider it one of the composer’s greatest achievements.