String Quartets No.5 & 6

The Bartók quartets occupy a place as important as Beethoven’s in the history of the genre – and of music in general. The last two, written in 1934 and 1939 respectively, bear powerful witness to the creative attitude of a composer engaged in a phase of uncompromising experimentation while still remaining closely involved in events in Europe on the eve of the Second World War. Composed shortly before Bartók went into exile in the USA, the heartrending Quartet no.6 was to be his farewell to the form. This is the first recording of the Arcanto Quartet.