Béla Bartók - String Quartet No. 5 - Takács Quartet

The String Quartet No. 5 Sz. 102, BB 110 by Béla Bartók was written between August 6 and September 6, 1934. Like the String Quartet No. 4 and several other works by Bartók, the piece is in an arch form.

Additionally, the first movement, which is in a sort of sonata form, is itself arch-like, in that each section of exposition is given in reverse order during the recapitulation - the melodies of each section are also inverted (played upside-down). Bartók himself pointed out that the keys used in the movement ascend in the steps of the whole tone scale: the exposition is in B flat, C and D; the development is in E; and the recapitulation is in F sharp, A flat and B flat.[citation needed]

The three middle movements are all in ternary form, of which the third is in time signatures typical of Bulgarian folk music: nine quavers in each bar in uneven groups of 4+2+3 for the main scherzo, and ten quavers in groups of 3+2+2+3 in the trio. The last movement is again arch-like: Bartók described it as being in the form ABCB'A' with a coda to round things off.

The two slow movements, the second Adagio molto and the fourth Andante are great examples of Bartók's Night music style: eerie dissonances, imitations of natural sounds, and lonely melodies.

00:00 1. Allegro
07:32 2. Adagio Molto
13:41 3. Scherzo. Alla bulgarese
18:41 4. Andante
23:32 5. Finale. Allegro vivace - Presto