Atlas
← Chamber music
9

String Quartet No. 2

György Ligeti · 1923–2006 · Hungarian-Austrian
For 2 violins, viola, cello
Level 9 · Virtuoso — about FRSM / FTCL, with the parts evenly matched
DarkVirtuosicDramaticWell-known

Listen

Open on YouTube More recordings
Ensemble
String quartet
Hardest part
Balanced
Form
Full work
Length
About 21 min
Composed
1968
Era
20th century

Notes

Five movements of micropolyphony, a pizzicato 'precision mechanism' and a brutal Presto; written for the LaSalle Quartet

About this work

  1. Allegro nervoso
  2. Sostenuto, molto calmo
  3. Come un meccanismo di precisione
  4. Presto furioso, brutale, tumultuoso
  5. Allegro con delicatezza
Suggest a correction

A step before · level 8

String Quartet No. 7
Grażyna Bacewicz
2 violins, viola, cello
String quartet2 violins, viola, cello
17 min
DramaticDarkLesser-known
8balanced
String Quartet No. 3, H. 114
Arthur Honegger
2 violins, viola, cello
String quartet2 violins, viola, cello
18 min
LivelyDramaticLesser-known
8balanced
String Quartet No. 4, K. 79
Willem Pijper
2 violins, viola, cello
String quartet2 violins, viola, cello
13 min
LivelyDramaticLesser-known
8balanced
String Quartet No. 1, Op. 7, Sz. 40
Béla Bartók
2 violins, viola, cello
String quartet2 violins, viola, cello
29 min
SlowDarkWell-known
8balanced

A step after · level 10

Tetora
Iannis Xenakis
2 violins, viola, cello
String quartet2 violins, viola, cello
14 min
LivelyVirtuosicLesser-known
10balanced
Livre pour quatuor
Pierre Boulez
2 violins, viola, cello
String quartet2 violins, viola, cello
55 min
DramaticDarkLesser-known
10balanced
String Quartet No. 1
Elliott Carter
2 violins, viola, cello
String quartet2 violins, viola, cello
40 min
DramaticVirtuosicLesser-known
10balanced
String Quartet No. 2
Elliott Carter
2 violins, viola, cello
String quartet2 violins, viola, cello
23 min
DramaticVirtuosicLesser-known
10balanced