Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Hearing Things Bartok string quartets

I thought of JohnK when I saw this site. The Emerson String Quartet discusses and plays Bartok's six string quartets. Very informative and enjoyable.

http://www.carnegiehall.org/article/explore_and_learn/art_performanceguide_bartok.html

Well Peter, it seems that I can't view that(do I have to practice to get to Carnegie Hall?). Actually, getting to the Carnegie Hall site was no problem, but the Emersons' site seemed to be loading interminably, so I stopped. The Bartok String Quartets are difficult to grasp for new music listeners(or not so new, like me), and although I have about a thousand classical CDs, I don't have the Bartok Quartets. I like and own quite a bit of Bartok(e.g. what's probably my favorite of his, The Miraculous Mandarin). Possibly the Emersons' site detected my lack of enthusiasm through the weakness of my click, and decided to extend the loading period to infinity.

That is a pretty cool website Peter. The video is high quality and I like how you can follow along as they procede through the different measures. Heck, I'm using my wireless G card in my laptop and having no problems with the website.

John, do you have broadband internet?

Yep.

Okay, I had some time, so I tried again. Don't know what mistake the computer made the first time(it certainly wasn't me!), but it loaded without trouble this time. Watched Quartet No. 1 and enjoyed following the red outlined squares and rectangles as they progressed through the score during the performance. It's been quite a while since I played(clarinet)in school bands and orchestras, but I can still remember a bit of how to read music, so I was hoping to catch some wrong notes, but apparently them Emersons really know their fiddling. Again, the Bartok Quartets aren't among my favorites, but it was interesting to hear their analysis. I wasn't aware of this site until Peter linked it, and don't know of any other similar presentations, although it would be nice if some other classical artists could do this.