Bartok: The Piano Concertos.(Sound Recording Review)

Bartok: The Piano Concertos. Krystian Zimerman, Leif Ove Andsnes, and Helene Grimaud, piano; Pierre Boulez, Chicago Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, and London Symphonies Orchestras. DG B0003885-02.

I know my colleagues here at the magazine prize the conducting of Pierre Boulez, while I have almost always found his style a little too cold, calculating, and distant. Nevertheless, in dealing with the three Bartok Piano Concertos, that type of approach may be just what's needed, especially in the First Concerto.

The thing that makes this album unique, besides Boulez's typically analytical manner, is that each concerto is performed by a different soloist and orchestra. I'd like to think that Boulez handpicked each artist and each ensemble to match each piece of music, but I can't think of any easy connections the conductor may have made. I rather believe that Boulez and DG just wanted to do something different to sell discs. But what do I know.

In any case, to my ears Zimerman and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra bring off the First Concerto (1926) best of the lot. The First is not the most smiling work in the world, full of hard edges and blunt percussives, but it's a work that Boulez wrings the most out of with his careful, methodic technique. He is helped along these lines by a somewhat close miking and a relatively dry acoustic. The result is not at all sharp or severe, however, because the DG ...