List of string quartets by Béla Bartók

Béla Bartók in 1927

The Hungarian composer Béla Bartók wrote six string quartets, for two violins, viola and cello:

List

Notable composers who have been influenced by them include:

Benjamin Britten, particularly in the Sonata in C for Cello and Piano Template:Sfn Template:Sfn
Elliott Carter, who refers in the opening of his own First String Quartet to Bartók's Sixth QuartetTemplate:Sfn
Chen Yi Template:Sfn
Edison Denisov, whose Second Quartet is closely related to Bartók's Fifth QuartetTemplate:Sfn
Franco Donatoni, who was deeply impressed when he heard a broadcast of Bartók's Fourth QuartetTemplate:Sfn
Robert Fripp, who mentions them as an influence on the band King Crimson Template:Sfn
Miloslav Ištvan Template:Sfn
György Kurtág, whose Opp. 1 and 28 both owe a great deal to Bartók's quartetsTemplate:Sfn Template:Sfn
György Ligeti, whose two string quartets both owe a great deal to Bartók's quartetsTemplate:Sfn Template:Sfn
Bruno Maderna Template:Sfn
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 symmetryTemplate:Sfn
Walter Piston Template:Sfn Template:Sfn
Steve Reich, who described them in an interview as "the greatest set of quartets since Beethoven"Template:Citation needed
Kim Dzmitrïyevich TsesakowTemplate:Sfn
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Stefan Wolpe, who explained in a public lecture how he had derived ideas from Bartók's Fourth QuartetTemplate:Sfn
Xu YongsanTemplate:Sfn
Jouni Kaipainen, credited openly Bartók's quartets as his model.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Key recordings of the complete cycle include:

Emerson String Quartet, Deutsche Grammophon, released 1990.Template:Full citation needed
Hagen Quartet Template:Full citation needed
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.Template:Full citation needed 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.Template:Full citation needed
Lindsay String Quartet Template:Sfn
Takács Quartet, Decca 289 455 297-2. Released 1998.Template:Full citation needed

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