Budapest

Nicholas Clapton first visited Budapest in a very snowy January 1996 to record a recently discovered mass by an almost unknown eighteenth-century Hungarian composer. Thus began an ongoing love affair with Hungary, its culture and its classical music-loving people. In this book, the author takes the reader on a discovery tour of the capital - to concerts in old churches, a hidden away restaurant, where the last great gipsy violinist still performs every night, and traditional Dance Halls, 'Táncház', established in the 1960s to preserve the Hungarian folk dance heritage. Clapton follows the footsteps of Liszt and Bartók, as well as less well-known Hungarian musicians and composers, recounts splendid and sometimes curious evenings in the Budapest Opera House and marvels at the opulent grandeur of Operett Színház, 'Budapest's Broadway'. Budapest is an engaging and affectionate musician's eye-view of a great European capital.A personal, intelligently-written account of the Hungarian capital's history 'in music', enriched with tips on eating and drinking, sights and museums, to delight lovers of travel and music alike.