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Technical Notice
| Classical Composer: | Bartók, Béla |
|---|---|
| Work: | String Quartet No. 2, Op. 17, BB 75 |
| Year Composed: | 1917 |
| Instrumentation: | 2 vn, va, vc |
| Publishers: |
Boosey & Hawkes Universal Edition |
| Duration: | 00:28:00 |
| Period: | 20th Century |
| Work Category: | Chamber Music |
Work Information
Available Recording(s)
The Second Quartet (1915-17) is partly explained by this enforced period of isolation, partly by the overriding need to fashion a musical language in which the 'art' and 'folk' music aspects of his creativity were allowed to find their natural equilibrium. The synthesis has been all but made in the present quartet, which ranks among his most inward and personal achievements.
There are again three movements, this time following the slow-fast-slow format which frequently found favour in the twentieth century. The opening Moderato grows from a searching theme on viola, which, after a modally-inflected idea has provided contrast, propels the impassioned central climax. A varied and intensified recall of the main material leads into the pensively ambivalent close. If this movement marks the limit of Bartók's late-romantic leanings, the scherzo that follows clearly points the way forward. The motoric rhythms of its main theme and the yearning trio section breathe the spirit of peasant culture, while the scurrying coda anticipates the angular musical expression to come. The finale returns to the inwardness of hitherto, its terse initial motif spawning a freely evolving theme which together define the harmonic and melodic content of the Lento as a whole. The closing bars are not so much defeatist as fatalistic - as though the composer's solitude had afforded him a measure of self-recognition.
Writer: Richard Whitehouse
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