String Quartets 2 & 6

Album by Béla Bartók & Talichovo kvarteto

String Quartets Nos. 2 and 6 are the second and sixth string quartets by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, composed in 1917–18 and 1939 respectively. They contrast the earlier quartet's exploratory engagement with folk-derived modes, shifting tonal centres and fragmented motifs with the later quartet's leaner textures, intensified rhythms and use of extended techniques, illustrating key stages in Bartók's development and in 20th-century chamber music.