As promised, here is the first of a series of posts concerning Bartók’s great Fourth String Quartet.
The third movement of Bartók’s Fourth String Quartet is its spiritual heart, as well as its physical center. Surrounded by two quicker movements (the very fleet and scurrying second movement, and a more sedate all-pizzicato fourth movement), it is one of his early “night music” pieces, evocative of perfumed nights in exotic locales.
The movement (Non troppo lento) opens with an organ-like chord that begins senza vibrato, then all at once begins to shimmer, mirage-like, sempre vibrato. The cello enters, and sings its lonely and impassioned song, with the other strings accompanying in a blanket of softly glimmering sound.
[audio:http://www.nobleviola.com/wordpress/audio/bartok/Non-troppo-lento-ex1.mp3]
[click to enlarge]
After the cello sings its song, the violin enters with skittering “insect” music. Bartók was an avid collector of insects (there is a case of his specimens at his home in Budapest) as well as of folk music, and he features this flitting, somewhat creepy music in many of his compositions through out his life.
[audio:http://www.nobleviola.com/wordpress/audio/bartok/Non-troppo-lento-ex2.mp3]
It is one of the most sublime and beautiful pieces composed in the 20th century, and the heart of the Fourth Quartet.
One reply on “heart of the fourth”
[…] This is the second of a series of brief posts about Bartók’s great String Quartet No. 4. Today, we look at the two quicker movements that surround the “night music” of the central third movement [you can read about that movement here]. […]