Bartok: String Quartets 1-6

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Anthony Tommasini wrote in the New York Times: "The majority of string quartets founded by conservatory students flush with idealism do not survive. But ever since Corina Belcea-Fisher, a Romanian violinist, brought together student colleagues from the Royal College of Music in London to found the Belcea Quartet in 1994, the ensemble has thrived. Understandably, for it is technically accomplished and uncommonly probing. The quartet has earned accolades on international tours and released valuable recordings on EMI Classics, most recently a two-CD album of the six Bartok string quartets. Along the way the quartet has undergone some typical changes of personnel. Its roster now includes the violinist Laura Samuel, a founding member; the violist Krzysztof Chorzelski; and the cellist Antoine Lederlin. … Bartok’s teeming Third Quartet (1927), just 17 minutes long, is generated from his ingenious manipulation of small thematic cells and rhythmic figurations. On one level, it comes across like a shockingly modernistic version of a folkloric Hungarian fantasy" ("Timeless Daring Revealed …," 4/7/08).