Search - Willi Zimmermann;Katarzyna Nawrotek;Nicolas Corti;Claudius Herrmann :: Bela Bartok: String Quartets No. 3, 4, & 6

Béla Bartók's significance as a pioneer in the search for a new European spirituality at the beginning of the 20th century has yet to be sufficiently acknowledged to this day. On 26 September 1995, the 50th anniversary of his death, the musical world once again had the opportunity to admire the amazing modernity of his bold and uncompromising works. Bartók's string quartets, a high point of the genre after Beethoven's cycle of 17 quartets, incontestably ranked among the most progressive works of their day. One could even say that they are the ideal continuation of the last works of Beethoven's cycle. Bartók essentially adopted the classical form, but placed it at the service of a new type of rhythm and sound, in agreement with his personal idiom. The origins of the quartets often lie in the folk music of his native Hungary.