This piece was greeted upon its first performance by a much-quoted review, written by the national-romantic composer (and music critic) Peterson-Berger :
"With the last item the portals of Hell were opened for the whole audience. Neither personal authority nor public sympathy can be increased by four performers inpersonating inmates of Konradsberg (a lunatic asylum in Stockholm) and interpreting the barbarous and obscure fantasies of a fifth..."
The first two movements bear the imprint of early Schönberg. Special Rosenbergian traits are to be found in the octave-doubling and simple counterpoint between violin and cello in the first movement and the long, cantabile melodies of the second. A glimpse of Bartók could well be imagined in the third and final movements, an impression that is strengthened on acquaintance with the 8 Plastiska Scener (Plastic Scenes) for piano (1921).
Yet Rosenberg had at that time not heard Bartók's music.