Carnegie Hall Performance Guide—Bartók String Quartets

My Carnegie Hall


	The Weill Music Institute

	School Programs

	The McGraw-Hill Companies CarnegieKids

	Musical Explorers

	LinkUP!

	Perelman American Roots

	Citi Global Encounters

	Cultural Exchange

	High School Choral Festival

	Professional Programs

	Professional Training Workshops

	Teaching Artist Collaborative

	Weill Fellows Program

	Community and Family

	Family Concerts

	Neighborhood Concerts

	Interactive Resources

	Listening Adventures

	Performance Guide: Bartók String Quartets

	Rite of Spring Project

	Sound Insights

	Artist Audio Interviews

	New Music

	Podcasts

Carnegie Hall Performance Guide—Bartók String Quartets

The Emerson String Quartet: The Bartók Quartets
A Guide for Performers & Music Lovers

Explore the six string quartets of Bela Bartók through the vision of the Emerson String Quartet in this amalgamation of video footage, written commentary, and animated score. Much of the video was taken during a workshop given by the Emerson members in 2003 and has been supplemented with additional video of Emerson members and others speaking about the quartets.

This site is intended for performers who are preparing these pieces as well as listeners and concertgoers who wish to learn more about the Bartók quartets and about the many musical decisions that must be made in order to perform these demanding works.

About the Emerson Quartet and the Bartók String Quartets

The six string quartets of Béla Bartók have been central to the repertoire of the Emerson String Quartet for over 25 years. Their first performance of the complete cycle came early in their careers in 1979. Their 1988 recording of the cycle won a Grammy Award that year. Recently they gave marathon performances of all six quartets in one concert at Alice Tully Hall and at the Aspen Music Festival. In this website they share publicly the accumulated insights of their career performing and living with the quartets.