{"id":2378,"date":"2009-04-21T11:37:49","date_gmt":"2009-04-21T18:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/?p=2378"},"modified":"2009-04-21T21:46:54","modified_gmt":"2009-04-22T04:46:54","slug":"the-frenetic-middle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/04\/21\/the-frenetic-middle\/","title":{"rendered":"the frenetic middle"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the second of a series of brief posts about Bart\u00c3\u00b3k’s great String Quartet No. 4.\u00c2\u00a0 Today, we look at the two quicker movements that surround the “night music” of the central third movement [you can read about that movement here<\/a>].<\/em><\/p>\n

The second movement, marked Prestissimo, con sordino<\/em>, is for the most part a very quiet movement, but extremely fast.\u00c2\u00a0 In 6\/8 time, it races from beginning to end, not giving either the performers or the audience a chance to catch their breath until it dissolves into the ether at its close.\u00c2\u00a0 Pizzicato dexterity is given a difficult test in this movement, calling for measured strumming in order to get the notes to speak in the tempo required.\u00c2\u00a0 One of the most striking effects is the use of staggered glissandi<\/em> amongst the four instruments, resulting in an otherworldly sonority.<\/p>\n

\"bartok-2-1\"<\/a>
\n\"bartok-2-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n[audio:http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/audio\/bartok\/mvt2.mp3]\n

The fourth movement, marked Allegretto pizzicato<\/em>, seems to have little relation to the second movement, but it is in fact a diatonic rendering of the previous movement’s chromatic melody:<\/p>\n

\"bartok-4-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n[audio:http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/audio\/bartok\/mvt4.mp3]\n

It is also notable for being the first composition in which Bart\u00c3\u00b3k calls for the so-called “Bart\u00c3\u00b3k pizzicato” where the string is plucked upwards and released so that it rebounds from the fingerboard with a snapping sound.\u00c2\u00a0 Playful moods predominate this movement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the second of a series of brief posts about Bart\u00c3\u00b3k’s great String Quartet No. 4.\u00c2\u00a0 Today, we look at the two quicker movements that surround the “night music” of the central third movement [you can read about that movement here]. The second movement, marked Prestissimo, con sordino, is for the most part a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[148,564,136,115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-audio","category-chamber-music","category-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-Cm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2401,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/04\/22\/bookends\/","url_meta":{"origin":2378,"position":0},"title":"bookends","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the final post on the Bart\u00f3k String Quartet No. 4. \u00a0Enjoy! Bookends are sually two fairly massive objects which hold a row of lesser books upright. \u00a0This would be an apt description of the two outer movements of Bart\u00f3k's Fourth Quartet. \u00a0They are large in scope (at least\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"anotherbartokchart","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/anotherbartokchart-400x129.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":941,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/04\/24\/mahler-9-iv-adagio\/","url_meta":{"origin":2378,"position":1},"title":"mahler 9 – IV. Adagio.","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"We're at the final movement of this great symphony, and what a movement it is! If you mention Mahler 9 to almost anyone, they'll invariably start to talk about the first time they ever heard the slow movement, and how it affected them at a critical time in their life.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/ir?t=dailyobservat-20&l=ur2&o=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":936,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/04\/21\/mahler-9-iii-rondo-burleske\/","url_meta":{"origin":2378,"position":2},"title":"mahler 9 – III. Rondo. Burleske.","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"What would a Mahler symphony be without a sprawling, hectic, and by turns achingly beautiful scherzo? Well, quite a bit shorter, for one. Mahler is often in the habit of taking a huge movement in cut time and making a huge journey out of it, and the Ninth Symphony is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13628,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2015\/01\/01\/beethoven-9-a-few-of-our-favorite-things\/","url_meta":{"origin":2378,"position":3},"title":"beethoven 9 – a few of our favorite things","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"We're in the second year of the Oregon Symphony's annual Ode to Joy New Year's Eve gala, and - in the viola section, at least - there is no sign of any of us being tired of playing Beethoven 9. In fact, in our rehearsal for the work this year,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_1276","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_1276-500x106.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1173,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/09\/26\/nine-on-the-ninth\/","url_meta":{"origin":2378,"position":4},"title":"nine on the ninth","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"We had our first rehearsals on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony yesterday, and it was one of those days where I was tired from the very beginning, but I thought I could at least dredge up nine observations about this well-loved work from an insider's perspective.\u00c2\u00a0 In the spirit of full disclosure,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8131,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/01\/09\/young-artists-debut-winner-announced\/","url_meta":{"origin":2378,"position":5},"title":"young artists debut winners announced","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The winning young artists for 2013 are: Emily Brother of West Linn, Oregon is a 15 year-old pianist and studies with Dorothy Fahlman. Emily is a sophomore at West Linn High School and will perform the first movement of the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1. Ruta Kuzmickas of Milwaukie, Oregon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "competitions"","block_context":{"text":"competitions","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/competitions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo: Lloyd Lemmermann","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/YoungArtists2013_Group-Shot1-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2378\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}