Béla Bartók

Music for Stringed Instruments, Percussion and Celeste

The Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta is a central work not only in Bartók's œuvre: lt is also recognized as a key work in the music of the 20th century. […] ln spite of the work's monothematic conception, all four movements have their own individual character. The constant return of the fugal theme from the first movement gives an organic unity to a series of complementary moods. The theme appears either in its original form or in inversions, sometimes slow, in a chromatic trepidation, and elsewhere as an expression of pure diatonic dignity and joy. All in all, the work is a masterpiece both of construction and of musical poetry. (Ferenc Bónis, taken from the preface)