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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Bartók: Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2 & 3 (complete)
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| |  | Bartók - The Piano & Violin Concertos
This well-filled 2CD set – nearly 2 hours and 40 minutes long – presents Bartók’s major concertos (the Viola Concerto appears on another Eloquence CD released this month). The three Piano Concertos appear in muscular and sumptuously recorded performances (one of the finest examples of Decca’s 1970s engineering at the venerated Kingsway Hall) by Pascal Rogé and Walter Weller. Likewise, the Second Violin Concerto resurrects a long-buried 1980 Argo recording by the late Iona Brown, with none other than Sir Simon Rattle conducting. The First Violin Concerto, the result of an ultimately called-off love affair with Stefi Geyer, found its music rechannelled into the Two Portraits and in Kyung Wha Chung and Chantal Juillet, respectively, find two of the composer’s most persuasive advocates. “Iona Brown gives a clean-cut and stylish performance, superbly recorded” Penguin Guide | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Bartók: Piano & Violin Concertos
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| |  | Bartók: The Piano Concertos and Violin Concertos
“the hushed intensity of the writing, as well as the biting Hungarian flavour, is caught superbly, thanks to Solti as well as to the soloist, and there is no sentimental lingering. In the Piano Concerto, the partnership between Ashkenazy and Solti works equally well.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Bartók: Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2 & 3 (complete)
This is the first concerto recording by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet for Chandos. Following the tremendous success of his complete Debussy piano music edition (‘This could well be the finest and most challenging of all Debussy piano cycles’ – Bryce Morrison, Gramophone) – which scooped awards from both Gramophone and BBC Music – and the launch of his ambitious Haydn Piano Sonatas series, the pianist now turns his attention to some of the mightiest concertos of the twentieth century. The three Bartók Piano Concertos on a single CD represents superb value for money. Bartók wrote his First Concerto, one of his most challenging works, in 1926. The percussive piano writing ads much bite to the textures. The first movement is striking in its rhythmic vigour and dramatic character. The central Andante is essentially a dialogue between the soloist and four percussion players and features much atmospheric ‘Night Music’. In the finale, following without a break, the brilliant motoric rhythms of the first movement return, as does the dramatic use of percussion in a thrilling mêlée of sound. The Second Concerto was first performed in 1933. The music is more melodically appealing and in the first movement, which is notably contrapuntal, the strings are silent throughout. The hushed slow movement on strings is interrupted half way through by a brilliant and startling scherzo, with a striking sequence of tremolos and note-clusters, before the haunting quiet mood of the opening returns. The finale, again with brilliant use of percussion (as well as brass), ends the work in virtuoso fashion. The Third Concerto was written at the end of the composer’s life, in 1945, and is much more restrained than the previous piano concertos. The work is lighter, airy, and almost neo-classical compared to much of his earlier music. Unlike much of Bartók’s output, the piece was not composed on commission, but was rather created as a surprise birthday gift for Bartók’s second wife, Ditta Pásztory, who was, like Bartók, a skilled concert pianist. The two lively outer movements, full of the composer’s distinctive rhythmic drive, are separated by a slow movement of great beauty and serenity, with, again, a striking, contrasting middle section. The final seventeen bars were orchestrated by the composer’s pupil, Tibor Serly, after the composer’s death, based on Bartók’s notes. “Both Bavouzet and the BBC Philharmonic with Gianandrea Noseda are outstanding in the First Concerto, capturing its epic scale and mixture of formality and barbarism...[These performances] generally have all the sweep, intensity and precision that these works demand.” The Guardian, 26th August 2010 **** “In league with the finely honed BBC Philharmonic, these are performances vibrant in colour, vital in rhythm and detail and viscerally exciting in impact.” The Telegraph, 2nd September 2010 ***** “Bavouzet relishes the high-octane energy of the outer movements of the first two concertos but through his imaginatively varied use of colour manages to avoid the trap of making Bartók's percussive writing seem too relentless.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2010 ***** “Bavouzet's own energy and lightness make the most of the jubilant, rhythmic writing.. It's a beautifully nuanced performance, brimming over with variety of touch and dynamic...The orchestra match him in their deft lightness, brightness and virtuosity.” Charlotte Gardner, bbc.co.uk, 16/09/2010 “Bavouzet's interpretations are masculine, intelligent and direct. In most of the nine movements, he opts for unusually brisk tempos, though quick as they are, the music never sounds rushed or precipitous. Clarity invariably prevails and Noseda and the orchestra are equal partners at every turn...the overall effect is viscerally exhilarating.” International Record Review, October 2010 “If you're after a disc of Bartok's piano concertos that maximises on the music's drive, elegance and sparring potential, then you could hardly to better than his ear-catching new production...Bavouzet doesn't play down the music's earth-derived grandeur...or its drama.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2010 “From the paranoid wranglings of the First Concerto to the helter-skelter glamour of the Second and the burlesque of the Third, the playing is first rate. Pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet delivers coruscating cadenza and locates an almost Beethovenian limpidity for the Adagio Religioso.” The Independent on Sunday, 17th October 2010  BBC Music Magazine
Orchestral Choice - October 2010 |
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| |  | András Schiff & Ivan Fischer
Bartók: | Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2 & 3 (complete) |
“András Schiff’s colourful, winning performances are totally idiomatic, brilliantly and warmly accompanied by the fine Budapest orchestra, bringing out point and sparkle. His depth of meditation in the slow movements matches that which he brings equally to Bach or Schubert” Penguin Guide | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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| |  | Bartók: Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2 & 3 (complete)
“Steven Kovacevich is a classy interpreter of Bartók's concertos. This is urgent music-making of vibrant energy, at times exhilarating at others magically atmospheric.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2007 ***** “[On Concerto No. 2] … this luminous and intense performance that reminded me vividly of the rapt occasions when [Kovacevich] and Davis have given this concerto live, notably at the Proms in 1966.” Gramophone Magazine | | (Sorry, download not available in your country) | |
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| |  | Musica Viva 11
Bartók: | Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2 & 3 (complete) |
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| |  | Bartók: Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2 & 3 (complete)
“Much as you'd like to tout the new as the best, there are some older recordings where a very special chemistry spells 'definitive', and that pose an almost impossible challenge to subsequent rivals. Such is this 1959 recording of Bartók's Second Piano Concerto, a tough, playful, pianistically aristocratic performance where dialogue is consistently keen and spontaneity is captured on the wing (even throughout numerous sessions). The first movement is relentless but never tires the ear; the second displays two very different levels of tension, one slow and mysterious, the other hectic but controlled; and although others might have thrown off the finale's octaves with even greater abandon, Anda's performance is the most successful in suggesting savage aggression barely held in check.
The Third Concerto is again beautifully moulded and carefully thought through.
Moments such as the loving return from the second movement's chirpy central episode are quite unforgettable, while the finale is both nimble and full toned. The First Concerto was the last to be recorded and is perhaps the least successful of the three: here ensemble is occasionally loose, and characterisation less vivid than with some. Still, it's a fine performance and the current transfer has been lovingly effected.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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Gramophone Awards 2011
Gramophone Magazine
BBC Music Magazine Awards 2011