This is a list of string quartets by Béla Bartók. The Hungarian composer wrote a total of six string quartets, for two violins, viola and cello:

List String Quartet No. 1 (1909), Op.7, Sz. 40, BB 52 String Quartet No. 2 (1917), Op.17, Sz. 67, BB 75 String Quartet No. 3 (1927), Sz. 85, BB 93 String Quartet No. 4 (1928), Sz. 91, BB 95 String Quartet No. 5 (1934), Sz. 102, BB 110 String Quartet No. 6 (1939), Sz. 114, BB 119

Posterity Notable composers who have been influenced by them include: Benjamin Britten, particularly in the Sonata in C for Cello and Piano Elliott Carter, who refers in the opening of his own First String Quartet to Bartók's Sixth Quartet Chen Yi Edison Denisov, whose Second Quartet is closely related to Bartók's Fifth Quartet Franco Donatoni, who was deeply impressed when he heard a broadcast of Bartók's Fourth Quartet Robert Fripp, who mentions them as an influence on the band King Crimson Miloslav Ištvan György Kurtág, whose Opp. 1 and 28 both owe a great deal to Bartók's quartets György Ligeti, whose two string quartets both owe a great deal to Bartók's quartets Bruno Maderna George Perle, who credits the Bartók Fourth and Fifth Quartets as precedents for his use of arrays of chords related to one another by different types of symmetry Walter Piston Steve Reich, who described them in an interview as "the greatest set of quartets since Beethoven" Kim Dzmitrïyevich Tsesakow

Stefan Wolpe, who explained in a public lecture how he had derived ideas from Bartók's Fourth Quartet Xu Yongsan Jouni Kaipainen, credited openly Bartók's quartets as his model.

Recordings Key recordings of the complete cycle include: Emerson String Quartet, Deutsche Grammophon, released 1990. Hagen Quartet Juilliard String Quartet: Recorded 1949, New York. Robert Mann and Robert Koff, violins; Raphael Hillyer, viola; Arthur Winograd, cello. Three LPs, 12 in., monaural. Columbia Masterworks ML 4278/4279/4280. Recorded May and September, 1963, Columbia 30th Street Studios, New York. Robert Mann and Isidore Cohen, violins; Raphael Hillyer, viola; Claus Adam, cello. Three LPs, 12 in., stereo. Columbia Masterworks D3L 317 (set): ML 6102, 6103, 6104. New York: Columbia Masterworks, 1965. Recorded 13–23 May 1981, Columbia 30th Street Studios, New York. Robert Mann and Earl Carlyss, violins; Samuel Rhodes, viola; Claus Adam, cello. Lindsay String Quartet Takács Quartet, Decca 289 455 297-2. Released 1998.

See also List of compositions by Béla Bartók

References

Sources

External links Performance guide, Bartók Quartet