Bartókiana (some recollections)

Extract

His piano pieces For Children were composed two years before my six-years-old fingers played them, proudly, at any time to anyone who was willing to listen. They were somewhat strange to my ears at first, not like any other music that I had played or heard until then, and immensely stimulating: certainly not as frightening as my previous acquaintance with Bartók's name had made me expect.