"[1][2] Boulez's first instrumental piece without piano, it can be seen as marking a transition between the hyper-expressivity and reliance on traditional forms found in the earlier works, culminating in the Second Sonata, with the serial experiments that followed.
[3][4][5] In a 1950 letter to John Cage, Boulez acknowledged the influence of the older composer, stating: "Meeting you made me end a 'classical' period with my quartet.
[17][19] Musicologist Richard Toop observed that, in comparison with the works that preceded it, Livre pour quatuor lacks the "explosive dynamism" of the Second Piano Sonata as well as the "seductive lyricism" of Le Soleil des eaux.
"[21] On the other hand, the music is characterized by rapid timbral and dynamic changes, in conjunction with the use of a wide variety of string techniques (sul ponticello, pizzicato, col legno, etc.
[25] In 2018, at the invitation of violinist Irvine Arditti, composer Philippe Manoury and musicologist Jean-Louis Leleu worked together on reconstructing and finishing the incomplete fourth movement.
[29][30] Reviewing a recording of the work by the Diotima Quartet, Andrew Clements wrote: "It's music that, as the composer himself said, veers between 'intentionally austere bareness' and 'the most proliferating exuberance'...
"[16] In a review of a live performance, Richard Fairman of the Financial Times stated that the piece "is no doubt meticulously organised, though the listener is pushed to hear how," and noted its "intricate, seemingly random detail.