This programme of the Belcea Quartet presents three special concerts in a day dedicated to the great Hungarian composer.

Timed to coincide with the release of their recording of these works on EMI and following the acclaimed Bartok readings that concluded their Wigmore Hall residency in 2006, the Belcea Quartet again performs what many regard as the most significant string quartet canon of the last century. Bartok’s quartets spanned 40 years and reflected the onset of two world wars. With the first pair of richly post-Romantic quartets leading to the bold innovations of Nos. 3 and 4 and a final mellowing in the last pair, the cycle combines folk material within complex frameworks and presents diverse new sounds and playing techniques, with poignancy and tragedy held in sometimes disturbing balance.

Programme:
11.30 – String Quartet No. 1; String Quartet No. 2
15.00 – String Quartet No. 3; String Quartet No. 4
19.30 – String Quartet No. 5; String Quartet No. 6

Saturday 20 September 2008: Belcea Quartet Bartok Day
Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London W1U 2BP; Tel. 020 7935 2141.

Details on www.wigmore-hall.org.uk