Bartókiana

Extract

Bartók was one of the giants of 20th century music. Yet the ‘Bartókiana’ associated with his life and works is of surprisingly modest dimensions. The fact that he has now been dead for fifteen years would tend to invalidate the possible excuse of an insufficient historical perspective. Admittedly, his life cannot be discussed with all its details completely filled in, but such is not the case with his music. None the less, his art, viewed in its totality, has not attracted the attention it unquestionably deserves: we are still baffled and mystified by certain aspects of his style and, to a slightly lesser extent, by facets of his technique.