Title : Bartók: Six String Quartets
Author : Bartok, Bela
Release Date : 19901025
Binding : Audio CD
Regular Price : $33.98
Amazon.com Price : $30.08
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Editorial Reviews : The six quartets of Bartók have been well represented on record, far better than the six of Schoenberg or the fifteen of Shostakovich. The choice on Compact Disc, however, is an easy one, for the Emerson Quartet not only plays the music better than any other ensemble, but gets all six essays onto two discs. Making roses out of what must seem more like a collection of thistles to most others who attempt to play the set, the Emerson players show the kind of ensemble polish that caused one European critic to complain, 'too smooth.... I like my Bartók rougher.' But awkwardness and rhythmic uncertainty, which have made many a lesser group sound rough in this music, should not be confused with expressive edge, which the Emersons bring to the music in full measure. Their readings are extraordinarily revealing, high-intensity, not at all for the faint of heart. With the odd-numbered quartets on one disc and the even on the other, each CD is a 'microcosmos' of the whole set. The sound quality is excellent throughout. --Ted Libbey
Buyer Reviews : Bartok's 6 string quartets are some of the best quartets ever written. Bartok's unique folk-music-like style comes out best in his works for strings. The works have a very rustic and gypsy-like sound, yet Bartok constructed them to perfection. His unique use of tonality is demonstrated best in these quartets in which all instruments jump through 12 tones and still keep a tonal center. Aaron Copland, in his book 'What To Listen For In Music', suggests these quartets by the Emerson Quartet as an excellent place to start in exploring the music of Bela Bartok. If one is looking for a good recording to bring them into the appreciation of 20th century and contemporary music, these quartets are the place to start. Furthermore, Emerson does such a FABULOUS job. The quartet actually performed the whole cycle of quartets in a concert. Any group of musicians who can keep an audience entertained with over 2 hours of very complex and enigmatic music deserves recognition. So recognize Emerson and BUY THIS RECORDING!!!
