Bartok: The Complete Piano Concertos - CD

The three Bartok concertos - Tomas Vrana's exciting debutBartok as an uncompromising individualist, Bartok as an architect, Bartokas a poet - that could be a simplified characterisation of his three pianoconcertos; three works that capture in a surprisingly fitting way the stagesof the composer's life, from the discovery of his own musical language torefinement and finally his acceptance of the difficult end to his life's journey.The calm and peaceful mood of the most frequently played Third PianoConcerto contrasts strikingly with the relentlessly tempestuous struggleof the First and the lively vitality of the Second. To this day, however, extremetechnical difficulty hinders the more frequent performing of these works.The playing of the young piano virtuoso Tomas Vrana, joined on the recordingby the Janacek Philharmonic Ostrava and the Hungarian conductor GaborKali, definitely goes well beyond mere technical mastery in the works. Hisdebut received high praise from Jean-Efflam Bavouzet: "Apart from it beingquite rare to see a pianist so dedicated to such difficult pieces, it is evenless common to see a young musician mastering them with such musicalintelligence and deep knowledge of the orchestra score coupled witha great sense of rhythm and a masterful technique!" Tomas Vrana alsoexhibited similar sensitivity and mastery in his use of language - heaccompanied his recording with an interesting text for the CD booklet.