Jerusalem Quartet | Béla Bartók String Quartets Nos. 1, 3, and 5

From the opening funeral dirge of the Quartet No. 1 to the incandescent frenzy that concludes the fifth, this disc offers a genuine panorama of the Bartókian universe. It's a world unto itself, constantly stamped with the heritage of the Hungarian folklore so dear to the composer. Two years after a first volume devoted to the even-numbered works (Nos. 2, 4, and 6), the musicians of the Jerusalem Quartet expertly complete their recording of a key cycle of modern chamber music—a musical saga drawn on the scale of a lifetime.