Robert Fripp on Bartok’s String Quartets: All Prog Rock comes from Bartok

Rock & Folk >> What was rock like back then?

Fripp >> I was a young man without work signed to Decca. I arrived in London in 67 with Sergeant Pepper’s bubbling inside of me. Hendrix, Bartok string quartets, an experience of passionate music…

Fripp >> …In 67, I wondered more what would have happened if Hendrix had interpreted Bartok’s string quartets, or Stravinsky’s “Rites of Spring”. Hendrix with his power, his distinct style, his cutting edge in a totally different framework. The merging of the Afro-American culture, the blues and jazz, and the tonal harmonic European system. For me, “Larks Tongue’s in Aspic” tried to answer this question…

from http://www.elephant-talk.com/wiki/Interview_with_Robert_Fripp_in_Rock_and_Folk

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