A whole life in three quartets. The string quartets of Béla Bartók punctuate the evolution of his style and the turning points of his existence. From the Second Quartet (1915-17) reflecting the period of World War One and his troubled personal life, through the Fourth whose exploration of rhythm, tonality and timbre produces magnificent and unprecedented sonorities in its ‘night music’, to the unbearable anguish of the Sixth (1939), as his dream of fraternity was shattered against the rise of nationalism and fascism, the Jerusalem Quartet’s programme brings us the essence of the Bartókian genius.
BÉLA BARTÓK [1881-1945] String Quartet no.2 op.17 Sz.67 in A minor · Moderato (10'04) · Allegro molto caprioccioso (8'01) · Lento (8'14) String Quartet no.4 op.17 Sz.91 in C major · Allegro (6'06) · Prestissimo, con sordino (3'10) · Non troppo lento (5'58) · Allegretto pizzicato (2'48) · Allegro molto (5'40) String Quartet no.6 op.17 Sz.114 in D major · Mesto-Più mosso,pesente- Vivace (7'29) · Mesto-Marcia (7'39) · Mesto-Burletta. Moderato (7'08) · Mesto (6'39)
