Classical Music | Music for Quartet

Recorded on 07/13/2005, uploaded on 02/18/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

String Quartet No. 2 in a minor, Op. 17 Sz. 67      Béla Bartók

Bartok's six string quartets are now looked upon as worthy successors to the quartets of Beethoven. They were composed throughout his career, from an unpublished early work dating from 1899 and not part of the six, to the sixth quartet composed in 1939. The Second Quartet was written over an unusually long period of time for Bartok: 3 years, from 1915 to 1917. However, the date ascribed to the work by the composer can be treated with some latitude. Bartok was living in Rakoskeresztur, Hungary, during this time and the hardships of the war years hung heavily on him. He was compelled to interrupt his work on the Second String Quartet and several other compositions during this period.

String Quartet No. 2 was first performed on March 3, 1918 by the Waldbauer-Kerpely Quartet and is dedicated to them. The violin melody of the first movement is very similar to the opening melody of the Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 written several years later. The principal element of this movement is contained in the dynamic exposition of the first two bars. This dynamism, a key component of Bartok's technique, is intensified and then recapitulated in a calmer, more modified melodic line that still retains its initial tension.

In the second movement, the Rondo and Theme variations are united so that the Rondo is presented as a series of variations, each recapitulation taking place on a higher plane. The drumlike note repetitions of this movement as well as the theme's melodic pattern recall Arab folk music. In the third movement, we hear for the first time the Eastern European folk-lament rhythms that so characterize Bartok's later work.     The Formosa Quartet

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.