# On listening to Bartok's String Quartets.



## Steber (Jul 11, 2014)

I am about to listen to Bartok's 6 String Quartets. Could anyone point out highlights that I should listen for? I appreciate these works have a central position in the string quartet repertoire. I am very familiar with the late quartets of Beethoven which I believe, were a major influence on Bartok when composing these works.


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

Steber, Welcome to TC. There has been an extensive recent discussion of Bartok's string quartets over in the "Solo & Chamber Music" section of the forum:
http://www.talkclassical.com/31828-cycle-review-bartok.html
Those comments should give you some orientation to their historical place -- and their absolute brilliance. I hope you might contribute perspectives of your own. I need to add some more material over there in light of some recent reading.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

"I am about to listen to Bartók's 6 string quartets"? I submit that that approach is not the most useful way to go about it.

In contrast to my usual recommendation for listening to music new to you, which is 'Just listen', I found that Bartók's music works way better when preceded by _background_. Like many composers, Bartók developed his craft over time; in his case the resulting changes in his music seem to be evolutionary rather than directional (no 'phases' as in Martinu's music for instance).

The 1st quartet was composed before he got more than a toe into eastern European folk music; his influences mostly came from the formal music community of composers.

The 2nd quartet has started along the lifelong path, but it feels to me as much Debussy as folk evolved. It is also unique among the quartets for its 'long thoughts'; if you aren't paying attention you lose it.

The 3rd and 4th quartets came only a year or so apart, and I think of them as complimentary. Most of the composing 'language' is there; the music is fresh, and groove jumping.

The 5th quartet may exemplify the high plateau in his craft before his flight to America. It's all there, I think. The 6th quartet seems to have been more driven by socio/political protest than by a need to 'let the music out'. The craft is there, but the mood is a downer.

I suppose this monologue is of no use to you, but it did me no harm that I know of, and I wasn't prevaricating.


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## Steber (Jul 11, 2014)

Thank you for your advice. I feel that this music does require a certain amount of background knowledge to appreciate its aesthetic.


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## Steber (Jul 11, 2014)

Thank you for your advice. Reviewing the discussion of these quartets will be useful for informed listening.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Steber said:


> Thank you for your advice. I feel that this music does require a certain amount of background knowledge to appreciate its aesthetic.


And that won't come all at once. But after studying Bartok, and really reaching out to understand his music, I have come to a much deeper understanding of his music. But for years. Bartok was on my back-burner of things not yet explored.

I think Bartok can be difficult because he is very individualistic and idiosyncratic in his music methods; he is neither traditionally tonal, nor serial; a lot of his music, i.e. the piano works, are still relatively under-recorded, and in some cases hard to find. I don't think there is a 'definitive' Bartok complete works out there, unless somebody else knows. Tell us.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

millionrainbows said:


> And that won't come all at once. But after studying Bartok, and really reaching out to understand his music, I have come to a much deeper understanding of his music. But for years. Bartok was on my back-burner of things not yet explored.
> 
> I think Bartok can be difficult because he is very individualistic and idiosyncratic in his music methods; he is neither traditionally tonal, nor serial; a lot of his music, i.e. the piano works, are still relatively under-recorded, and in some cases hard to find. I don't think there is a 'definitive' Bartok complete works out there, unless somebody else knows. Tell us.


Kocsis did a good survey of the piano music, and the piano concertos with Fischer were included in the set. The works with voice should be (and aren't) in a separate set; same deal with the works featuring violin(s) and or viola - they should be in a set. The latter two sets should contain multiple performances of some works, with different performers.

There are, of course, individual 'gem' recordings, e.g. Robert Hagopian playing the Bagatelles, 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs, 4 Dirges, and the Allegro Barbaro; and Oistrakh/Richter playing the Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano. Another set of 'gems'?

We Bartókians could go on and on.

Should. Shoulda is the story of my life.


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## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

Get a nice bottle of Scotch... it's going to be a bumpy ride.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Ukko said:


> The 6th quartet seems to have been more driven by socio/political protest than by a need to 'let the music out'. The craft is there, but the mood is a downer.


Hmmm, very interesting thoughts, I'm not sure about the socio/political elements in the 6th Quartet though... Apparently from Bartok's sketches it is evident the work was originally intended to have a lively dance as a finale, but upon receiving news of his mother's death Bartok re-wrote the movement as a "deeply sad elegy".

I find in spite of the sad elements there is also a sense of serenity, acceptance and great beauty in the work.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

tdc said:


> Hmmm, very interesting thoughts, I'm not sure about the socio/political elements in the 6th Quartet though... Apparently from Bartok's sketches it is evident the work was originally intended to have a lively dance as a finale, but upon receiving news of his mother's death Bartok re-wrote the movement as a "deeply sad elegy".
> 
> I find in spite of the sad elements there is also a sense of serenity, acceptance and great beauty in the work.


IMO the 6th, composed or at least finalized in Switzerland after fleeing Hungary, was imbued with bad feelings toward the fascist government that he fled. Bartók, being well capable of expressing himself in music... .

Consider the relatively early suppressed (by him) finale for the Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano; quite expressive, I think.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Steber said:


> I am about to listen to Bartok's 6 String Quartets. Could anyone point out highlights that I should listen for? I appreciate these works have a central position in the string quartet repertoire. I am very familiar with the late quartets of Beethoven which I believe, were a major influence on Bartok when composing these works.


They are very directly modeled upon Beethoven, to a degree where I sometimes think what I am hearing is Beethoven, but with a much later and newer type of harmony 

You know, the best is to first get familiar with new works solely based upon their sound, and get generally familiar with the form too, which all comes by listening more than just a few times. Then, you might want to look into articles more of the analytic sort, pointing out themes, developments, some dramatic (for the time) innovations or usages -- because these are more readily found, identified and tracked _after_ that first period of repeat listens where you have become more familiar with the 'lay of the land.'

Any and all socio-political factors of influence, personal anecdotes from the composer's bio _may or may not be audible_ in the music. While I advocate knowing historic and biographical composer info as part of it, it is most often of ancillary additional interest, affecting the music little or not at all. They're String Quartets; _if the notes do not have a feeling expressed, no amount of additional non-musical information is going to better the pieces._

Back to the almost directly like Beethoven bit: there is nothing horribly radical about these quartets, other than their harmonic language -- and that only radical at the time they were written. Ergo -- approach them as you would any common practice piece first... i.e. _just listen._


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## rischa (Dec 12, 2013)

Steber said:


> I am about to listen to Bartok's 6 String Quartets. Could anyone point out highlights that I should listen for? I appreciate these works have a central position in the string quartet repertoire. I am very familiar with the late quartets of Beethoven which I believe, were a major influence on Bartok when composing these works.


Steber, you will love Bartok's quartets! One highlight to look out for is the 4th movement of the 4th quartet, the pizzicato movement. It's about two and a half minutes of the entire group plucking their instruments--beautiful and strange. Actually, the entire 4th quartet is quite wonderful. Enjoy!


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

As with Beethoven's late works, you don't listen to Bartok. You slog through it.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

brianvds said:


> As with Beethoven's late works, you don't listen to Bartok. You slog through it.


Oh c'mon...that's wrong on SO many levels...


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## SeptimalTritone (Jul 7, 2014)

There's a little part near the end of the last movement of the fifth quartet where the first violin plays a simple melody on top of a chord held by the lower instruments, but the melody is a half step off the lower triad harmony. This part is _really freaky_, as if Bartok is almost mocking simple tonality. It gives me the shivers every time.

My favorite Bartok quartet though is probably the sixth with its strong, dark emotion and unique structure with the repeating Mesto movement. And speaking of Beethoven, early on in Bartok's sixth there is a strong ff octave unison passage that probably was inspired by the opening of the Grosse Fugue.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

KenOC said:


> Oh c'mon...that's wrong on SO many levels...


I was being facetious - I am a huge fan of Bartok's work. But you gotta admit, it isn't exactly light music.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

brianvds said:


> I was being facetious - I am a huge fan of Bartok's work. But you gotta admit, it isn't exactly light music.


Well, he wrote some really appealing suites of dances... but yeah, the quartets require a bit of acclimatization!


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## Steber (Jul 11, 2014)

Thank you for your advice, PetrB. I think it is good to have a 'plan of listening' when approaching such works as these.


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## Guest (Jul 21, 2014)

Until quite recently, the only classical music in my collection was these quartets (on cassette no less!).

In my rock-head I always imagined that if Bartok was in a rock band it would be King Crimson. Or if Fripp wrote string quartets, this is what they would sound like. If no one can relate to that, please feel free to ignore


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

gog said:


> Until quite recently, the only classical music in my collection was these quartets (on cassette no less!).
> 
> In my rock-head I always imagined that if Bartok was in a rock band it would be King Crimson. Or if Fripp wrote string quartets, this is what they would sound like. If no one can relate to that, please feel free to ignore


Composers like Bartok and Prokofiev make heavy metal seem tame by comparison.


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