After having been nominated for numerous Grammy awards in the past, the Takács Quartet finally came away with the top prize in the category for Best Chamber Music Album 2002 with their recording of the "Razumovsky" and "Harp" Quartets by Beethoven. In an interview with PT Host Fred Child, Takács violist Roger Tapping exclaims, "It's a lovely start for the series of the whole [Beethoven] Cycle we're doing... If nobody liked this one, we'd have been a bit depressed by now!"

Based in Boulder, Colorado, the Takács Quartet was founded in 1975 by Gabor Takács-Nagy, Károly Schranz, Gabor Ormai and András Fejér while all four were students at Budapest's Liszt Academy. Since then, the ensemble has been hailed as one of the greatest string quartets in the world for their blend of rich tone, subtlety, and power, and for their wide-ranging repertoire. Highlights of their 2002-2003 season include the world-premiere of a new work by Malaysian composer Tan Su Lian, lecture recitals on Bartók, collaborations with the Hungarian folk ensemble Muzsikás, and the beginning of the complete Beethoven Cycle in Cleveland.