Bartók: String Quartets Nos. 1–6; Emerson Quartet

The last two of the six String Quartets written by the composer of The Miraculous Mandarin, bringing together the most perfectly balanced between its two night musics, framed by three pillars of an arc built with ‘country’ material as authentic as it is violent (5th), and finally, the distressed, funereal farewell of the 6th with its sad (‘mesto’) ritornello.

The Emerson String Quartet makes its PENTATONE debut with a recording of Schumann’s three string quartets. Penned in the summer of 1842 during an exceptional peak of creativity, these quartets formed the beginning of a six-month surge during which most of Schumann’s best chamber music saw the light. Inspired by the example of Beethoven, Schumann’s quartets display a mastery of traditional forms, combined with typically Schumannian fantasy and lyricism, particularly in the inner movements. As such, they underline a new level of maturity in Schumann’s artistic development, surpassing the fantastical aesthetic of previous years.