The Third is probably the toughest of the Bartok string quartets: more uncompromising in its language than Nos. 1 and 2, it is also compressed in a way that the last three quartets are not, though it lacks the infectious dance-like sparkle of their faster movements. But toughness for its own sake is not a recipe for artistic quality and it is not for that reason that I think this closely argued Third Quartet is especially fine even in a series of masterpieces. The Chilingirian Quartet play this work from the inside as if they have done so for some years (I don't know if this is so, but I've just noticed to my surprise that they formed their ensemble nearly 20 years ago in 1971) and by taking tempos that although brisk enough remain unhurried they reveal the music's beauty as well as its elaborate motivic working.
On this generously filled record (following last June's release of Nos. 1 and 2) the Fourth and Fifth Quartets are enjoyable too, and again I salute a good judgement of tempo; they are better known and rather more readily accessible as music, both being in a symmetrical arch form of five movements in which second and fourth resemble each other in tempo—quick in No. 4 and slow in No. 5. I would recommend a newcomer to these works to sample, from the Fourth Quartet, the brilliant muted Prestissimo and the Allegretto pizzicato. I have heard the former faster and more mysterious, but the drily nervous wit is well conveyed. The central lamenting Non troppo lento is moving too, with an effective cello solo, although other cellists have other ways with it which I would not be without. The Fifth Quartet is finely done overall; here, as elsewhere, I am impressed by the grasp of Bartokian rhythm, not merely metrically but in its musical sense. The recording is satisfying in all respects save one: I would prefer something a little less close and immediate that would allow more convincing piano and pianissimo dynamics and (importantly) more mystery—say in the winding second subject of the first movement of the Fifth Quartet and its slow movements. (The Sixth Quartet will be coupled with Bartok's early Piano Quintet of 1903–04 to conclude the cycle.)'