Bartók
's piano concertos are less often performed than his usual favorites, partly because they, the first two especially, are genuinely difficult works for both soloist and orchestra. Again, except for the late
Piano Concerto No. 3, Sz 119
, they present a hard edge to the audience. Pianist
Tzimon Barto
offers fresh and quite persuasive readings, and he is aided by a sympathetic connection with conductor
Christoph Eschenbach
and the
Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin
;
Barto
and
Eschenbach
have worked together often in the past. That is good because some aspects of these performances throw the rulebook out the window. "If you bang away at it, without rhythmical buoyancy, of course it will become tedious,"
says of the ostinato-packed outer movements of the
Piano Concerto No. 1
, and that provides a good key to his overall approach. He sacrifices some of the hard edge in favor of rhythmic variety, and this works. In the thorny textures of the
Piano Concerto No. 2
, he is on the slow side, which helps to elucidate details that are hidden when the concerto is reduced to a rush of notes. Especially slow is the Adagio religioso slow movement of the
Piano Concerto No. 3
; to these ears, it is genuinely haunting, but for others, it may be lugubrious. In general, these readings are worth revisiting the
concertos for, whatever one's ultimate conclusions about them. This is so even though the sound, captured at multiple locations in the late 2010s (the
is a live recording), is unspectacular. ~ James Manheim