String Quartet No. 6, Sz. 114 (parts) by Bela Bartok
Published by Boosey & Hawkes
Bela Bartok (1881-1945) was one of Hungary's greatest composers and one of the most outstanding composers of the 20th century. He was a committed modernist, applying the contrapuntal rigor of Bach and Brahms to the broader tonal sensibilities of Debussy and Schoenberg. He was also one of the first ethnomusicologists; he recorded folk music across Eastern Europe with fellow composer Zoltan Kodaly, later incorporating folk song into his own music. He wrote much in the way for strings, including string quartets, concertos, and folk suites.
Bartok's six string quartets form one of the most fascinating and unique cycles of the quartet literature. His final quartet, String Quartet No. 6, Sz. 114 (1939), is a deeply expressive and personal work of farewell; to his dying mother and to his native Hungary, which he left shortly after the work's completion as WWII began. Intimate expressions of loss and grief permeate the music, its form and chromatic language distantly related to Mahler's later symphonies. A slow introduction on the viola recurs across the work like a haunted memory. There are moments of invention, as well-a march and a sardonically humorous scherzo marked "Burletta" are driven by canonic pairs of instruments that anticipate his Concerto for Orchestra. Parts only. Master level, Grade 6.
