Bartok & Juilliard

Into Budapest streamed delegates from the Communist musical world to honor Hungary's late great Bela Bartok, once dismissed as a decadent "formalist," but restored to Red favor two years ago. The hit performers of last week's festival turned out to be not Communist musicians but a clutch of wandering Americans: Violinist Yehudi Menuhin and the men of the Juilliard String Quartet.

Menuhin, longtime Bartok specialist, opened the festival with the harsh and complex Sonata for Solo Violin. Menuhin let it be known that he will soon give the world premiere of a newly available early Bartok violin concerto,* which the composer dedicated to the late Hungarian-born violinist Stefi Geyer, with whom he was in love before his first marriage. Budapest audiences reserved their loudest cheers for the Juilliard group, which played Bartok's Third and Sixth quartets, plus works by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, the U.S.'s Walter Piston and Leon Kirchner. The audience yelled so loudly for encores that the quartet gave an additional concert for students, who almost dismantled the hall with enthusiasm. Established in 1946 by Juilliard School of Music President William Schuman, the quartet has scored triumphs in Europe in recent years, built a reputation which rivals that of the U.S.'s famed Budapest String Quartet. The Juilliard's current membership: Robert Mann and Isidore Cohen, violinists; Raphael Hillyer, viola; Claus Adam, cello.

In Budapest, crowds followed the group on the street, eyed Cellist Adam's horse-blanket sport jacket with undisguised awe. The critics pulled out their fanciest superlatives. "A wonderful experience," said one. Added a Budapest composer: "The best string quartet I have ever heard."

* Bela Bartok Jr. has turned up about 40 manuscripts left behind by Bartok in Budapest when he fled during World War II.

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