Székely and Bartók : the story of a friendship /

This excellent book is a delightful biography of one of the most important violinists of this century. A good part of the book deals with Sz'ekely's recollections of Bart'ok along with many other performers, composers, and other artists. The author traces the violinist's long career from its beginning in Hungary to its last years at the Banff Centre. Much of the information is the result of personal, taped interviews with both Sz'ekely and his wife, Igminia, and of research in diaries and letters. As a result, much of the work is in the first person, which gives a charming immediacy and authenticity to the text. There are many photographs and five appendixes. The first appendix reprints 46 letters from Bart'ok to Sz'ekely. Others include a very important discussion with Sz'ekely on performance practice, with special regard to Bart'ok; short biographies of the members of the Hungarian Quartet; and lists of the compositions and first performances by Sz'ekely. This book is important for its documentation of musical life in Europe from before WW I to recent times. All academic collections. W. Ross; University of Virginia

Violinist Zoltan Székely, now 90, has lived through nearly a century of musical history. Beginning as a concert violinist in his native Hungary, he quickly became widely known in Europe. He commissioned Béla Bartók's much-loved Violin Concerto (actually his second; the composer refused to acknowledge his first) and was a founding member and leader of the Hungarian String Quartet, widely admired in Europe for 35 years for its playing of Bartók and Beethoven (the group gave the first performance of Bartók's fifth and commissioned his sixth, quartets). Székely, married to a Dutch woman, was trapped by the Nazis in Holland during the war, later had to rebuild his, and the quartet's, career. After it disbanded in 1972, he ended up comfortably ensconced as a teacher at the Banff Center in Canada. Canadian cellist/professor Kenneson tells his story thoroughly, but with a wealth of often superfluous detail and a lack of inflection. The title is also somewhat misleading. Bartók certainly figures; there are previously unpublished letters by him and interesting glimpses of him at work, but the book is mostly about Székely and the quartet, and therefore of comparatively limited general interest. Discography and photos not seen by PW. (0ct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

This fascinating book chronicles the life and times of Zoltan Szekely, the internationally renowned violinist who is perhaps best known as leader of the Hungarian String Quartet, one of the most durable and oft-recorded ensembles of the century. Kenneson (Bibliography of Cello Ensemple Music, Harmonie Park, 1974) has constructed a marvelously detailed picture of life in the musical circles of Europe before, during, and after World War II, with particular attention paid to the touching relationship between Szekely and composer Béla Bartók. Bartók dedicated his Violin Concerto to Szekely, who premiered it in 1939 to general acclaim. Especially moving is the account of Szekely's (and the quartet's) struggle for survival during the war in Occupied Holland. The title of this book is somewhat misleading, however, since about a third of the material concerns Szekely's career after Bartók's death in 1945. There is much new material here in the form of letters and concert reviews that will interest scholars and lay readers alike. Recommended for all libraries with collections on 20th-century music.‘Larry Lipkis, Moravian Coll., Bethlehem, Pa. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.