Didrik Schiele:

>Well then I think Bartok a wonderful composer, and I would love to hear
>which other peoples favourite works by him are, and how he represents "the
>new road" vs.  "the old road" in music history and stands in general in a
>forum like this one.

I think Bartok a wonderful composer as well.  (Schoenberg once, without
irony, called him "the second greatest living composer").  My favorite
works tend to be the less accomodating ones:  the 6 string quartets; Music
for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta; the first and second piano concertos;
the piano sonata; Cantata profana.  I don't know what you mean by new road
vs.  old road, but in general I believe newness or modernism in itself
isn't all that important, any more than aesthetic traditionalism or
reaction is.

I haven't asked all the other members of this list, but a while back there
was a discussion on Bartok's string quartets.  You might check the list
archives at www.classical.net and enter a search on "Bartok."

Steve Schwartz