It’s often noted that Stanley Kubrick relied on Bartók for the soundtrack to his horror film The Shining. Violence is enacted upon the strings. In other words, Bartók’s catalog of effects is not for classical music’s faint of heart.
The First String Quartet of 1909—performed by Brentano String Quartet on March 21—is the tamest of Bartók's six quartets. Read about the composer and the piece, and watch and listen to excerpts from it on our A Golden Age of Music website.
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