The quartet is in four
movements: A typical performance takes about 26 minutes. The first and third movements, at about 10 minutes each, are much longer than the second and fourth, at about 3 minutes each.{{AllMusic On 22 September 1941,
Isabel Morse Jones, music critic for the
Los Angeles Times, reviewed the premiere. She wrote, "It is distinctly contemporary and the work starts in a wholly unique ethereality. Upper partials barely heard usher in the first subject most gently. Then a rhythm-cleverness changes the whole picture. Britten wanted to bring the music to consciousness mysteriously, as from another world. The idea was all right but the music was not effective". Nevertheless, she suggested that the slow third movement might be titled "In Memoriam for a Lost World", and said that the last movement was "a brilliant success". According to Britten's biographer
Humphrey Carpenter, the tense and restless character of the quartet may reflect an emotional turmoil in the composer; or, perhaps, partly derive from his working conditionshe had had to shut himself in a tool shed and turn on a fan to drown out the sound of his hosts' piano practice. Musicologist Peter Evans analysed the structure of the quartet in detail. He saw resemblances to
Beethoven,
Bartók and
Haydn in some of its features. He wrote, "the extremely subtle relationship between inherent characteristics of the material and its structural working-out showed Britten at twenty-seven to be a master of tonal architecture with scarcely a rival on the English scene". To Evans, Britten's use of D major is often, as here, associated with "a luminous harmony of gentle diatonic dissonance". Musicologist
Roger Parker called the quartet "a significant milestone in Britten’s composing career", and, brushing aside what he called the "music-analytical Britten industry", also compared it with late Beethoven. Ben Hogwood summarised critical opinions on the quartet. "Critical reaction to the quartet was largely strong, and the work is held in good regard by authorities on the composer, despite acknowledgement of a few formal quirks and minor shortcomings." Like others, he saw resemblances to Beethoven. == Recordings ==