Would it be instead of a language "accent" would you more mean a
cultural flavor? Hungarians were raised in Hungarian culture, steeped I
would imagine in the folk traditions of their country. Bartok was
heavily influenced by the folk songs of his country, so I would imagine
Hungarians musicians would best understand that aspect of his music and
really bring it out.

Pierre Csillag wrote:
> rugby52732 asked:
>
>> In what ways are the Emerson Quartet performances "foreign" ?
>
> I didn't speak about the Emerson Quartet, I never heard their Bartók
> quartets. I said the Takács Quartet performs without any foreign
> accent, but I prefer the Alban Berg Quartet in their Bartok quartets
> for other reasons.
>
> With "foreign accent" I wanted to designate when somebody speaks an
> other language than his mother tongue, and when this can be heard. For
> example, I speak English with a "foreign accent" (please tell me the
> right word here).
>
> The Hungarian language has some pecularities, and these pecularities
> can be neatly heard in most of Hungarian composers' music, especially
> in Bartók's. I don't want to say that you must be Hungarian for
> correctly perform Hungarian music, but it's better when you know the
> pecularities of the language. This happens naturally for the Takács
> Quartet, and not completely for the Alban Berg Quartet (I don't speak
> about the others).
>
> If is not clear, please don't hesitate to ask me other questions.
>
> Best, Pierre
>
>
>
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