Béla Bartók - Piano Concertos (Géza Anda)

Information

Composer: Béla Bartók

• (01) Piano Concerto No. 1, BB 91, Sz. 83
• (04) Piano Concerto No. 2, BB 101, Sz. 95
• (07) Piano Concerto No. 3, BB 127, Sz. 119

Géza Anda, piano
Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Ferenc Fricsay, conductor

Date: 1959 (4-9), 1960 (1-3)
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/cat/4473992

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Reviews

These classic performances were probably the first recordings of the Bartók Piano Concertos that many of us owned, and they probably put the music on the international map once and for all. Both Ferenc Fricsay and Géza Anda, compatriots of the composer, spared no effort in bringing this music to the widest possible public; and their recordings are not only important for this reason, but they have also withstood the test of time very well indeed. They treat these pieces as straightforward, Romantic piano concertos of the Lisztian "bravura" school, which in many respects they are. Later performances have explored the music's modernity more probingly, but that lessens neither the validity of this approach nor the pleasure of the result.

-- David Hurwitz

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Anda's recordings of the Bartók concertos, made in 1959-60, have remained the preferred versions for nearly 40 years. His variations of touch and range of sound are still extraordinary, and he is equally at home in the brilliant and demanding percussive writing in the first two concertos and the hushed lyricism of the third. He is aided and abetted throughout by the knowing partnership of Fricsay, always an admirable Bartók exponent, and the alert Berlin Radio Orchestra. The sound remains bright and natural after all these years, with no perceptible modifications. Although there have been fine modern accounts of these concertos, notably by Peter Donohoe and Vladimir Ashkenazy, Anda's continue to hold their own... A highly recommended set.

-- Charles Timbrell, FANFARE

More reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/Bart%C3%B3k-Concertos-Nos-1-3-G%C3%A9za-Anda/dp/B000001GPW

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Béla Bartók (March 25, 1881 – September 26, 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and an ethnomusicologist. Bartók is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Liszt are regarded as Hungary's greatest composers. Through his collection and analytical study of folk music, he was one of the founders of comparative musicology, which later became ethnomusicology. Bartók's music reflects two trends that dramatically changed the sound of music in the 20th century: the breakdown of the diatonic system of harmony, and the revival of nationalism as a source for musical inspiration.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9la_Bart%C3%B3k

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Géza Anda (19 November 1921 – 14 June 1976) was a Swiss-Hungarian pianist. A celebrated interpreter of classical and romantic repertoire, particularly noted for his performances and recordings of Mozart, he was also a tremendous interpreter of Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms and Bartók. In his heyday he was regarded as an amazing artist, possessed of a beautiful, natural and flawless technique that gave his concerts a unique quality. Since his death in 1976 at the age of fifty-four, his high reputation has faded somewhat from view. Most of his recordings were made on the Deutsche Grammophon label.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A9za_Anda

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