Marmen Quartet
BIS · BIS2693 · 67 minutes
The Marmen Quartet plays these six Bartók string quartets like the music lives inside them — there’s a raw, cellular energy here that makes even familiar passages feel freshly dangerous. BIS gives them a recording that captures every percussive snap and microtonal shimmer, so you’re right there in the room when things get ferocious. If you’ve been waiting for a Bartók cycle that genuinely thrills rather than just impresses, this one’s it.
Awards:
- Gramophone Magazine — February 2025 — Editor’s Choice
- BBC Music Magazine — February 2025 — Chamber Choice
- BBC Music Magazine Awards — 2026 — Winner – Chamber
“They seem to have assimilated the music into their cells, performing it with an energetic vitality and colour that is all special effects…The group offers high-pixel definition of character,…”
— BBC Music Magazine, February 2025,5 out of 5 stars
Takács Quartet
Decca · 4552972 · 2 hours 30 minutes
The Takács pull off something really special here — Bartók’s six string quartets are notoriously demanding music, full of spiky rhythms and emotional extremes, yet these guys make it all feel completely inevitable. That "total naturalness" Gramophone mentions is exactly right; the First Quartet’s tempo shifts breathe like a living thing rather than sounding like a technical exercise. If you’re going to spend two and a half hours in Bartók’s world, there’s no better company than this.
Awards:
- Building a Library — April 2002 — First Choice
- Building a Library — February 2021 — Recommended Recording
“These performances provide more impressive sampling points than can be enumerated in a single review. The First Quartet’s oscillating tempo-shifts work wonderfully well, all with total naturalness….”
— Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010
Emerson String Quartet
Deutsche Grammophon · 4236572 · 2 hours 28 minutes
The Emerson String Quartet tears into these six Bartók quartets with a ferocity and precision that still feels genuinely electrifying, decades after the recording was made. There’s a rawness here that keeps you on edge — like the music is always one breath away from completely unraveling, which is exactly how Bartók should feel. Sweeping up both the Gramophone Award and two Grammys back in 1989, this one isn’t just a recommendation, it’s basically the place you start if Bartók’s string quartets are new territory for you.
Awards:
- Gramophone Awards — 1989 — Recording of the Year
- Grammy Awards — 32nd Awards (1989) — Best Chamber Music Recording
- Grammy Awards — 32nd Awards (1989) — Classical Album of the Year
Heath Quartet
Harmonia Mundi · HMM90766162 · 2 hours 37 minutes
The Heath Quartet bring something genuinely special to these six Bartók quartets — a real sense of structural grip that keeps even the most angular, splintered passages feeling like they’re going somewhere meaningful. What’s impressive is how they hold the bigger architectural shapes together without ironing out any of the wildness that makes Bartók so thrilling. At over two and a half hours, this is a serious sit, but it never feels like homework.
Awards:
- Gramophone Magazine — September 2017 — Editor’s Choice
- Presto Editor’s Choice — June 2017
- Presto Recordings of the Year — Finalist 2017
- Record Review — 10th June 2017 — Recording of the Week
“Two of the strengths of the Heath Quartet are their ability to hold together Bartók’s more sectional structures, such as the first movements of the Fourth and Fifth quartets in convincing single…”
— BBC Music Magazine, September 2017,4 out of 5 stars
Tokyo String QuartetKoichiro Harada (violin), Kikuei Ikeda (violin), Kazuhide Isomura (viola) & Sadao Harada (cello)
Deutsche Grammophon · 4761833 · 2 hours 38 minutes
The Tokyo String Quartet brings something almost unsettling and raw to Bartók’s six quartets — there’s a ferocity here that never tips into chaos, which is exactly what this music demands. You can hear every scrape and tension in the strings, like the players have genuinely wrestled with these pieces rather than simply performed them. It’s the kind of recording that makes Bartók feel urgent and alive, not like a museum piece from a dusty shelf.
Awards:
- Building a Library — September 2005 — First Choice
- Gramophone Awards — 1981 — Winner – Chamber
Hagen Quartet
Deutsche Grammophon · 4635762 · 2 hours 33 minutes
The Hagen Quartet bring such a rich, vivid palette to these six quartets that you almost feel like you’re seeing the music as much as hearing it — the dynamic range alone is something else. Bartók can feel austere and forbidding in the wrong hands, but here there’s warmth and color woven through even the most angular passages. At two and a half hours, it’s a serious commitment, but honestly, you’ll want to sit with it all in one go.
Awards:
- Building a Library — February 2021 — Also Recommended
“Colour is…very much the Hagen’s thing, widely spaced dynamics too, which are vividly projected; and where keeping to the letter matters most, they don’t disappoint either”
— Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2010
