String Quartet No. 2 (Bloch)

The String Quartet No. 2 by Ernest Bloch was composed between 1940 and 1945. The quartet averages 34 minutes to perform. Bloch wrote it following a close study of Beethoven's sketches for the Eroica symphony.^[1]

After its premiere, Ernest Newman called the String Quartet No. 2 "the finest work of our time in this genre, one that is worthy to stand beside the last quartets of Beethoven".^[2] The composer himself called it "dry, not easy to listen to … and I doubt it will be liked".^[3]

Today it is typically regarded as the finest of Bloch's five quartets.^[1] Only in the second quartet did Bloch find a synthesis between formal sonata form structure and his "fundamentally improvisational and rhapsodic" thought, avoiding the weaknesses of cyclic procedures often evident in other works.^[4]

Structure

The quartet is scored for 2 violins, viola and cello and is in four movements:

1. Moderato
2. Presto
3. Andante
4. Allegro molto

External links

• String Quartet No. 2 (Bloch): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project