Book Review
Nov. 23rd, 2011 12:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariMy Father
by Peter Bartok
This is a warm and affectionate memoir of Bela Bartok, written by his younger son, Peter. It covers only the last half of Bartok's life, from the late 1920s through 1945. While not scholarly, My Father does provide a lot of interesting information and insight into Bartok's life and work. This is helped by the fact that Peter uses a freer structure for the memoir, instead of a strict chronological narration. He alternates chapters that are primarily chronological with others that are based around a broad topic (Environment, Folk Music, etc). The result is a more natural spinning out of memory, history, and reflection.
Since Bartok did not speak or write much about the specific compositional techniques or processes he used, and this is a personal memoir, there is not a lot of deep discussion of Bartok's works. However, Peter provides really interesting anecdotal information about the circumstances surrounding several works, most notably Mikrokosmos, the concerto for Orchestra, and the Third Piano Concerto.
The best thing I got out of this book is a wonderfully vivid sense of what sort of person Bartok was, how he lived, and how he organized and conducted both his personal and professional lives.
by Peter Bartok
This is a warm and affectionate memoir of Bela Bartok, written by his younger son, Peter. It covers only the last half of Bartok's life, from the late 1920s through 1945. While not scholarly, My Father does provide a lot of interesting information and insight into Bartok's life and work. This is helped by the fact that Peter uses a freer structure for the memoir, instead of a strict chronological narration. He alternates chapters that are primarily chronological with others that are based around a broad topic (Environment, Folk Music, etc). The result is a more natural spinning out of memory, history, and reflection.
Since Bartok did not speak or write much about the specific compositional techniques or processes he used, and this is a personal memoir, there is not a lot of deep discussion of Bartok's works. However, Peter provides really interesting anecdotal information about the circumstances surrounding several works, most notably Mikrokosmos, the concerto for Orchestra, and the Third Piano Concerto.
The best thing I got out of this book is a wonderfully vivid sense of what sort of person Bartok was, how he lived, and how he organized and conducted both his personal and professional lives.
