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Zusatztext Maurice not only presents us with a very clearly documented account of this important work, but evokes warm, human glimpses of all the protagonists ... This fascinating book will stir violists from their habitual mindset and encourage them to look at this canon of their repertoire with new eyes. Klappentext When Bela Bartok died in September of 1945! he left a partially completed viola concerto commissioned by the virtuoso violist William Primrose. Yet! while no definitive version of the work exists! this concerto has become arguably the most-performed viola concerto in the world. The story ofhow the concerto came to be! from its commissioning by Primrose to its first performance to the several completions that are performed today is told here in Bartok's Viola Concerto: The Remarkable Story of His Swansong. After Bartok's death! his family asked the composer's friend Tibor Serly to look over the sketches of the concerto and to prepare it for publication. While a draft was ready! it took Serly years to assemble the sketches into a complete piece. In 1949! Primrose finally unveiled it! at a premiereperformance with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. For almost half a century! the Serly version enjoyed great popularity among the viola community! even while it faced charges of inauthenticity. In the 1990s! several revisions appeared and! in 1995! the composer's son! Peter Bartok! released a revision! opening the way or an intensified debate onthe authenticity of the multiple versions. This debate continues as violists and Bartok scholars seek the definitive version of this final work of Hungary's greatest composer. Bartok's Viola Concerto tells the story of the genesis and completion of Bartok's viola concerto! its reception over the second half of the twentieth century! its revisions! and future possibilities. Zusammenfassung This book tells the intriguing story of Béla Bartók's Viola Concerto, a work left unfinished at his death in 1945. Drawing on interviews and documents that reveal previously unavailable information, it discuesses the commission, the reconstruction by Tibór Sérly, events leading up to the premiere, its reception over the second half of the twentieth century, the revisions, and future possibilities....
