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 Bela
Bartok (20Th-Century Composers) by Kenneth Chalmers
The 19th century
saw the flowering of modern nationalism as the various peoples
of Europe who had previously been culturally silent began to make
themselves heard. Along with the invigorating effects on art,
nationalism also led to provincialism and occasional bigotry.
Examining Bartók, author Kenneth Chalmers uncovers an intellectual
whose research into folk music was genuinely nationalistic and,
at the same time, broad-minded. Bartok's research covered not
just Hungarian sources; it also reached out to other European
ethnic groups--even as far as North Africa. Just as Bartok's nationalism
managed to be cosmopolitan, his compositions served as a contemporary
idiom that escaped the sterile orthodoxy of serialism. Chalmers's
portrait of this proud and withdrawn man captures his single-minded
commitment to his music and explains why Bartok's works are among
the most accessible contemporary scores to enter the repertory
after WWII. (Amazon.com)
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