BaL 29.02.20 - Bartók: Piano Concerto No 3.

**Bryn** · 22-02-20, 11:54

Bal 29.02.20 Bartok Piano Concerto No. 3

Starting this as all the posts re this forthcoming edition have been removed, including those which were posted on the now-defunct Cunning Little Vixen thread. How about reinstating the relevant posts from those deleted threads?

Ah, I see the Tardis has been employed. Are earlier posts re this edition to be restored or should I reiterate the criticism of the online listing re Bartok having completed the work before he died?

**richardfinegold** · 22-02-20, 12:22

I have been listening to this piece quire a bit lately, as I purchased Zoltan Kocsis recording with Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra, which I greatly prefer to my other two recordings, Boulez/Barenboim and and Bronfman with Salonen. The Kocsis sounds much more idiomatic

**Eine Alpensinfonie** · 22-02-20, 12:22

Will do, Bryn. But be patient as I seek a way of doing it without access to Dumbledore’s Time Turner.

**Pulcinella** · 22-02-20, 12:28

Originally posted by Bryn View Post

Starting this as all the posts re this forthcoming edition have been removed, including those which were posted on the now-defunct Cunning Little Vixen thread. How about reinstating the relevant posts from those deleted threads?

Ah, I see the Tardis has been employed. Are earlier posts re this edition to be restored or should I reiterate the criticism of the online listing re Bartok having completed the work before he died?

I have emailed Record Review with a clip from the Wiki entry on the work.

**Pulcinella** · 22-02-20, 12:37

A great favourite here, since I first got the DG Geza Anda 2LP gatefold set.

I seem to have five versions on the shelves, but still probably usually go for the Anda.

Katchen/OSR/Ansermet
Entremont/NYPO/Bernstein
Grimaud/LSO/Boulez
Kovacevich aka Bishop/LSO/Davis
Anda/RSO Berlin/Fricsay

**Bryn** · 22-02-20, 12:39

Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View Post

Will do, Bryn. But be patient as I seek a way of doing it without access to Dumbledore’s Time Turner.

Thanks, EA. With Serly's orchestration of the final bars being so well known, I was really quite taken aback by the listing's bogus claim. I have too many favourites to offer other than it will be a hard job for Ms Molleson. My guess would be that Bavouzet will come out on top with Anda being the 'historical' choice next Saturday.

**Barbirollians** · 22-02-20, 13:06

Originally posted by Bryn View Post

Thanks, EA. With Serly's orchestration of the final bars being so well known, I was really quite taken aback by the listing's bogus claim. I have too many favourites to offer other than it will be a hard job for Ms Molleson. My guess would be that Bavouzet will come out on top with Anda being the 'historical' choice next Saturday.

Anda/Fricsay obviously .

**Wolfram** · 22-02-20, 13:14

Originally posted by Bryn View Post

Thanks, EA. With Serly's orchestration of the final bars being so well known, I was really quite taken aback by the listing's bogus claim. I have too many favourites to offer other than it will be a hard job for Ms Molleson. My guess would be that Bavouzet will come out on top with Anda being the 'historical' choice next Saturday.

I listened to both of these recordings earlier in the week and much preferred, what sounded to me anyway, to be Bavouzet's more lyrical approach - I found Anda and Fricsay too percussive and rhythmically unrelenting in what, I believe, is supposed to be one of Bartok's more reflective pieces. But all that was before I played the sublime Annie Fischer......

**Bryn** · 22-02-20, 13:22

Originally posted by Wolfram View Post

I listened to both of these recordings earlier in the week and much preferred, what sounded to me anyway, to be Bavouzet's more lyrical approach - I found Anda and Fricsay too percussive and rhythmically unrelenting in what, I believe, is supposed to be one of Bartok's more reflective pieces. But all that was before I played the sublime Annie Fischer......

Ah, but which Annie Fischer recording?

**jayne lee wilson** · 22-02-20, 15:48

Great choice for a BaL! Will consider.... many will be in the threesomes of course, so neatly timed for the length of a CD....

**Bryn** · 22-02-20, 17:15

Currently listening to the Bavouzet and finding it a bit twee (probably down to my immediate state of mind). It's very slick but . . .

One easily overlooked is the Martha Argerich/Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana/Alexander Vedernikov, recorded: 2007-06-23 in Palazzo dei Congressi, Lugano. I will have to search out the annoyingly housed set and give the relevant disc a spin. Les than a dozen or so more here after that.

**Petrushka** · 22-02-20, 17:23

I have:
Anda/Berlin RSO/Fricsay
Fischer/VPO/Solti
Ashkenazy/LPO/Solti
Donohoe/CBSO/Rattle
Kovacevich/LSO/Davis

No complaints about any of them but my 'go to' recording has always been Anda.

**Pulcinella** · 22-02-20, 18:02

Opinion revised after listening to the five recordings I have (post #6, though after Alpie has worked his magic the numbering might alter): I'd now plump for the Grimaud/LSO/Boulez.
I don't have a copy of the score, but I spotted details I hadn't noticed before.

**Eine Alpensinfonie** · 22-02-20, 20:00

The following comments, relevant to this discussion, were posted on The Cunning Little Vixen thread. Merging them would have been a simple task, but then the OP would have been some way down the list.

Zola
Something odd going on with the Vixen because the web page for tomorrow's Record Review now says that next week ( i, e. 29 / 2 / 20 ) will be Bartok piano concerto no 3 ( with Kate Molleson )

Bryn
It gets worse. The write-up for the concerto reads:

In a desperate fight against the clock, Bartók finished his final piano concerto (and final completed work) just four days before his death in New York on 26th September 1945. More lyrical and less angular than his first two concertos, the third is much recorded, including by many of the biggest and starriest pianists of our times. Perhaps its most memorable music is the central slow movement, based on Beethoven's 'Heiliger Dankgesang' (Holy song of thanksgiving), the middle movement of his string quartet Op. 132, written by Beethoven after he had recovered from illness. Like the Beethoven, Bartók's music here is apparently simple and serene and features, too, a wonderful example of his night music, including evocative bird calls and a magical blending of orchestra and solo piano.

Wrong! It was left incomplete when Bartok died. The final 17 bars had their orchestration completed by Serly. Let's hope the review itself is better informed.

Goon525
Re Kate Molleson: do the skills required to succeed as a presenter also necessarily set one up as an expert capable of delivering a high quality BaL?

Alison
I find her presentation rather irritating, too self-aware.

BaL 29.02.20 - Bartók: Piano Concerto No 3.

BaL 29.02.20 - Bartók: Piano Concerto No 3.

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