Search - Bela Bartok, Colin Davis, BBC Symphony Orchestra :: Bartók: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-3

Galvanizing performances in best sound

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 10/20/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's not nice to begin a positive review with "Where are they now?" but to American listeners the London-based pianist Stephen Kovacevich has been a mostly absent figure. I heard him in recital in Chicago several years back, and it's hard to credit that the blazing pianist heard on this colleciton of the Bartok concertos is the same musician on display that night. Kovacevich's current playing remains sensitive and poised, but a firebrand he isn't -- almost the opposite.



No matter. Here we hear Kovacevich twenty years ago, and his way with Bartok is very convincing, balanced between extrovert virtuosity and alert intelligence that takes advantage of every opportunity to find mystery and nuance in Bartok's idiom. Gratefully, the closely miked piano never sounds bangy, and Philips' sonics are natural and at times brilliant. Inner-part writing for the woodwinds comes across crystal clear. Colin Davis is equally energized and makes much of the orchestral accompaniment, which Bartok gave equal primacy to.



Interpretations are hard to describe when it comes to Bartok's extreme diversity and mercurial changes, but I'd classify these readings as robustly direct. Kovacevich keeps power in reserve, the opposite of Argerich's headlong plunge into all-out fireworks. In truth his approach wouldn't stand up on its own -- Kovacevich lacks a pesonal signature -- and this CD depends on a superb collaboration to make its effect. A good test sample for the new listener would be the first movement of Concerto #3, which is imbued with excitement and jovialaity. The first quality is easy to come by in Bartok, the second much less so. My sole eservation is that Kovacevich doesn't find the hused poetry in the Third's night-music intermezzo.



Returning to this well-loved recording after many years, I was amazed at how well it stands up. It could easily be recommended as a first choice in these galvanizing works if you want all three concertos on one CD."