Ján Levoslav Bella – String Quartet No. 2 in E Minor, “Hungarian”

V4 quartet (Miranda Liu (HU)/ Daniel Rumler (SK) / Tomáš Krejbich (CZ) / Bartosz Koziak (PL)) at the Indian Summer in Levoca Festival 2021. I. Allegro risoluto II. Adagio III. Allegro scherzando IV. Largo - Con moto - Allegro maestoso Born in Liptovský Mikuláš , Bella was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1866, although he converted to Protestantism in 1881. From 1869 he developed a career in music, first at Kremnica, later in Sibiu (now in Romania). His musical style was closer to his Austrian and German contemporaries; he was a friend of Dvořák, Brahms, Joachim and Dohnányi. His second string quartet was written in 1871. It is both lyrical and colourful, with many elements of Hungarian song and folk-dance among its themes