Bela Bartok's quartets at Kings Place

In 1949/50 season the South Place Sunday Concerts Society gave the first complete cycle of Bela Bartok's quartets in the UK. It was a radical piece of programming in pot-war Britain. The concerts were performed by the Hurwitz, Aeolian, Blech, Amadeus and Martin quartets, and coupled one of Bartók's six quartets with a quartet from Beethoven's first cycle of six quartets in the Op.18 set, published in 1800, and one of Mozart’s mature quartets. Bartok's quartets, written between 1908 and 1939, are some of the seminal works of the 20th century.

To commemorate the 70th anniversary of Bartok's death, in New York in September 1945, the Chilingirian Quartet will be re-constructing the cycle at Kings Place starting 8 November 2015. Further information from the Kings Place website.