Customer Reviews

Zoltán Kocsis plays Bartók [Box Set]

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Without a doubt Bartok is one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. Combining a deep understanding of the possibilities of eastern European folk music - particularly Hungarian and Romanian - with an extremely advanced harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary, Bartok composed some of the greatest works of the last century.

Although Bartok wrote some sublime orchestral music (The Music for strings, percussion and celeste comes instantly to mind), it is in the realms of string quartet and solo piano music that Bartok reigns supreme among 20th century composers in the humble opinion of this reviewer.

So. Here is an 8 CD set of all of Bartok's solo piano music by (argueably) the pre-eminent interpreter of his piano music. These are insightful, passionate performances beautifully recorded.

I for one am thrilled to have this set - particularly since many of these CDs were unavailable up till now. The box is also very reasonably priced compared to the separate CDs.

Highly recommended - modern music begins here.

This is quite simply one of the most important and consistently superbly executed recording projects of all time. Bartók's piano music isn't exactly overrepresented on disc, being as it is without doubt one of the most important piano oeuvres ever composed, and in the hand of Zoltán Kocsis, doubtlessly one of the greatest pianists alive today, one should expect some superb discs where the works at long last receive the treatment they deserve. In fact, the actual result surpasses any possible expectations. The works are played with such feeling, imagination, energy and profundity it is a marvel. And there is no doubt either that these pieces deserve it - there are so many gems and minor (and, in the case of the sonata and Out of doors at least, major) masterpieces here that one almost looses track. And when we add the excellent sound quality, we really have a set here for which no sound excuse could be given for not obtaining it.

Of course, since one of the virtues of the set is completeness, not all of the works might reasonably be said to be of much more than specialist interest, such as the For Children which comprises the third volume - yet
in Kocsis hands even these pieces achieve a convincing sense of profundity. But apart from that, Kocsis meticulous attention to detail and his penetrating views of these works, combined with his spell-binding evocations of color where appropriate and superbly incisive rhythmic command make for an incomparable listening experience. There is nothing exaggerated here, yet the music makes an impact that no other recordings are even close to achieving. All in all, this is quite simply stunning.

I have no other recordings of these works to compare but bought these because I am a big fan of Bartoks orchestral works, concertos and the string quartets. This is great set given the low prices you can find on Amazon. Some of the pieces were written for children or are practice material for pianists. However Bartoks unique vision and personality shine throughout all the performances no matter how simple or complex.

After the painful death of Gyorgy Sandor in 2005 (the undisputed pianist in Bartok ever born) Zoltan Kocsis has erected himself as the top pianist playing Bartok's piano music all over the world in this moment.

His gifts as pianist have become him one of the top twenty maxim exponents of the keyboard. He has recorded also one of the most formidable versions of the Art of Fugue I have ever heard.

Inheritor of the great Hungarian tradition (Louis Kentner, Andor Foldes, Andras Schiff) Kocsis is nowadays a legitimate National pride for Hungary.

A must-have.