String Quartet No. 3

Bartók’s Third (1927) is the most radical of his six string quartets, but it’s also one of the most immediately gripping, and its taut one-movement span means that this whole extraordinary adventure in sound, rhythm and atmosphere is over in about 15 minutes. The score abounds in breathtaking effects: sul ponticello (the rasping or glassy sound produced by bowing right up against the bridge), col legno (playing with the wood of the bow rather than the hair), wide glissandos (slides), extreme variations in vibrato and audacious placing of harmonics. But there is so much more to this than a collection of ear-grabbing sounds. Though clearly divided into four linked sections, the Third Quartet is compellingly continuous. Ten years had elapsed since Bartók had finished his previous quartet, yet its slowish first section feels rather like an attempt to pull itself out of the desolation of No. 2’s finale. Eerie as this music can be, it is also full of vitality, which eventually breaks out into electrifying dance music in the second section. A glance back at the opening music fails to stall the onward momentum of the dance, which breaks out again in a thrilling coda, beginning with ghostly slithering sounds and building to a wild, exuberant climax. Bartók’s music rarely sounds as close to the edge as in this final section, yet the ending can convey a sense of savage joy.