Classics: Piano Concertos

Details: These are truly wonderful performances of Bartok's great piano concertos; but if you have other recordings of these pieces, you may be disappointed with the overall sound balance. Bartok's orchestral works require a high level of virtuosity from the soloist and orchestra. I enjoy these works more when the often-delicate interplay between the pianist and individual orchestra members is more clearly captured.

To appreciate the difference, you will need to spend a few more dollars to purchase the Peter Donohue/Simon Rattle digital recording (EMI 7 54871 2) where you will easily hear details which are oft-times rather muddled on the Sony disc, particularly during more frantic segments of "Allegro" movements in the first and second concertos. Following along with a copy of the score will help even more. They did a bit better during the slower-paced, lower level second movements; but it's not what I would expect from "24-bit technology...used to maximize sound recording" (as described in the liner credits).

My guess is that they didn't do their homework analyzing the acoustics of the chosen recording sites. They wisely chose to avoid the sonically questionable Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, heading to Long Beach for 1 & 3 and UCLA's Royce Hall for #2. Of these, the second concerto (which starts the disc) sounds best to me. Maybe they let interns set up the mikes and run the mixer - hard to say, but the rather distant sound doesn't do justice to these remarkable performances. Makes you wish they would have sub-contracted recording to a crew from Telarc, EMI or London.

Another alternative, still a benchmark after 40 years, is Geza Anda's award-winning DGG recording from 1960 (447 399-2 - another Amazon "Most Popular" choice), now digitally re-mastered and available for only a couple of dollars more. If you love this music, you will want this one anyway - it still sounds fresh and exciting, a tribute to Deutsche Grammophon's cutting-edge analog technology from those days. Bronfman's performance is actually quite reminiscent of Anda's, appropriately percussive and energetic for the allegros, delicate and refined for the adagios; and the orchestra plays splendidly at all times.

Again, probably not worth quibbling about details given the price; but you should know that it could have sounded better with more attentive engineering.