Béla Bartók's String Quartet No. 4 introduces an unprecedented diversity of instrumental techniques, including harmonics, glissandos, and the 'Bartók pizzicato' where the string snaps onto the fingerboard.
Composition History
György Kurtág's 12 Microludes for string quartet, Op. 13, are dedicated to his friend András Mihály, a cellist, conductor, and composer, for his sixtieth birthday.
Compositional Technique
Bartók's String Quartet No. 4 employs a palindromic (arch) form, where the slow central movement is framed by two scherzos, which are themselves framed by two allegros.
Composer's Artistic Vision
For Hungarian composers born in the first half of the 20th century, Béla Bartók was a fascinating, even overwhelming, model.
Historical Context
György Ligeti never heard Bartók's Fourth Quartet performed in Hungary because only the composer's more 'consonant' works were authorized at the time.
Performer Biography
Cuarteto Casals, formed in Madrid in 1997, won first prize at both the 2000 London International Competition and the 2002 Brahms International Competition.
Composer Biography
György Ligeti's artistic emancipation was accompanied by a break with his roots, as he fled Hungary in 1956.
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