The Manhattan String Quartet

*Bartók in Budapest*
Bela Bartok, c. 1919 by G.D. Hackett	The Manhattan String Quartet is pleased to announce its 9th annual "cultural expedition" January 11-18, 2009 and January 18-25, 2009 Budapest, Hungary
*...with its distinguished history of world-class composers and performers, Budapest is truly one of Europe's most musically sophisticated cities....* Our focus will be Bela Bartók's String Quartet No. 6. This great work from 1939, written just before Bartók fled from Budapest to America and shortly after his mother died, is a masterpiece of emotional opposites: achingly beautiful sad music, bouncy folk music-inspired moments, and somewhat darker musical commentary combining to form one of the most beautiful and expressive of Bartók's oeuvre.