Why the lack of love for Bartok?

[wil]

Totally agree.

From my experience, my favorite artists, bands, composers, were not immediately appreciated by me, on the first few listenings. It took several or more times until they gelled for me.

I was not a fan of classical, at all, until I heard Bartok, Stravinsky, Britton, Ravel. I didn't become a obsessed until I discovered Carter, Wourinen, Berg, Schwantner, Schoenberg, Lindberg, Ades, Tower, etc.

Classical music from earlier than about 1920 does nothing for me. And it's not for lack of trying. The vast majority of the classical I listen to is post 1950.

If I had to choose, I would always pick 20th-century music. Fortunately I don’t have to choose!

Listen to Glenn Gould play Bach, or the Bach Cello Suites, and the late Beethoven quartets. In their way, they are just as “out there” and exciting as anything from the 20th century.

 

[tima]

Listen to Glenn Gould play Bach, or the Bach Cello Suites, and the late Beethoven quartets. In their way, they are just as “out there” and exciting as anything from the 20th century.

Copy that. Gould Rulz.

Or even Vivaldi - try the first movement of Winter in his Four Seasons.

 

[Simon Moon]

Copy that. Gould Rulz.

Or even Vivaldi - try the first movement of Winter in his Four Seasons.

I've tried.

I have decent amount of Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven, Mozart, and many other pre-20th century recordings in my collection. I play them from time to time, to see if they'll do anything for me. After all, if I begin to like pre-20th century music, that opens an entire new world of music for me. Never a bad thing!

As it is, I'll have to stick to 20th century and contemporary classical.

Lucky for me, there are always new composers and pieces to discover from these periods, so I have no problems finding new and exciting music.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Just finished Bartok Piano Concertos 2 and 3...Askenazy/Solti vinyl. Lots of love for this, both the SQ which my system is finally realising (way better timbral accuracy from my Zus is SO critical to classical appreciation), and just an amazingly potent performance. Indeed, this is going to be a "go-to" disc to ascertain future system changes and gauge other audiophiles' sounds.

Oh yes, and to enjoy over and over.

 

[alexeirostov]

I've never heard anything but respect for Bartók... that must have been a dark corner of the web!

 

[morricab]

Bartok = meh

In all seriousness, I am not a fan, but this discussion you refer to was in the context of Beethoven! If you recall, Tang was struggling with Beethoven to the incredulity of others.

That said, whilst you and others may like Bartok, he is nowhere near the *vastly* superior Beethoven Imho ymmv and all that politically correct bollox.

I am also not a fan but would never bash the composer's work...clearly the mind of a gifted composer...he just doesn't speak to me in the way other composers do.