Gillies' book contains contributions from virtually all of the great Bartok scholars of our time. The book is logically organized and comprehensive, covering all of the major works, as well as many fascinating biographical details. The essays are informative, thought-provoking, and musically rich. If you are interested in the music of Bartok, you should own this book!

An excellent book on the great Twentieth-Century composer, being both a biography in the usual sense, but also providing definitive analyses of his major works. The detailed description of Bartok's six string quartets, leaves little more to be said of them -- unless you want to go to monographs like Prof. Leo Treitler's Ph.D dissertation on the Fourth Quartet alone. A must for any Bartok lover. [updated email address]