Bartók: String Quartet No. 2 for string quartet - op. 17, for string quartet

To make myself clear: This is not "programme music", it does not require an explanation attached to it; it speaks for itself. What it wishes to say it does by means of pure music. But it does say something, more in fact than the simple music-making we have become accustomed to since the decline of chamber music.' (Zoltán Kodály)