Bartok's 2nd piano concerto - first stereo recording

[Scion7]

                 click to enlarge




I first bought this circa 1983 in grad school at the university bookstore - I was thumbing through the (mostly) junk
and there it was!  I liked the cover painting, which I remembered from a history class in college (but can't remember
the artist or date-period off the top of my head, there is no credit on the album jacket.)  The surfaces are acceptable,
and despite the technical restrictions noted below, is very listenable.  I think there is some extra "authority" in that
the pianist was a student of Bartok's.  Another masterpiece by Bela !

                       from Gramophone June 1967
BARTOK. (a) Piano Concerto No. 2. Sandor (piano), VSO/Gielen. (b) Sonata for two pianos and percussion. Sandor, Reinhardt (pianos), Schad, Sohm (percussion). Turnabout t TV4036
TV34036S (12 in., 15s. plus 2s. 8d. PT). (a) mono from Vox PL11490 (4/60), stereo from STPL511490 (3/60). (b) mono from VBX426, stereo appears for the first time.

The Bartok is an attractive coupling, offering, as it does, the first really cheap version of either the Second Piano Concerto or the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion. Gyorgy Sandor, who studied with Bartok,  is an experienced and persuasive advocate of Bartok (it was he who recorded the Third Concerto for the first time in the days of 78s) but he is ill-served by the recording. The acoustic is so reverberant that when the texture becomes complex the detail becomes muddy and the quality of recorded sound is not the most truthful—the oboe, for example, sounds distinctly pinched. The balance at the opening of the slow movement favours the first desks and so sacrifices some of the mystery of this wonderfully atmospheric movement. The Sonata is played with tremendous attack and devastating unanimity by Sandor and Rolf Reinhardt but again they are let down by the engineers.    ~R. L.

You can buy it, still-sealed, if you want:   

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BCGOBY/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B006JMCNO4&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0T2EDQZ92B0JNZJ9VD4A

NEW (still sealed) VINYL LP RECORD ALBUM.

Not available on CD - Sandor re-recorded all three Bartok
piano concertos in 1989, available on a Sony legacy CD,
but he was very old and lacked power - not recommended.

[val]

It was the first version I heard of this 2nd Concerto. But, to be honest, I heard better interpretations since then: Bishop/Davis or Kocsis/Lehel or even Pollini/Abbado (but in this case more because of Abbado than the pianist).

[Scion7]

What happened to my post??

The text, a link and some images are gone.

! ! !

[Sergeant Rock]

What happened to my post??

I don't know where your text went but your last image url is missing the [/img]

Sarge

[Scion7]

I know - I was leaving it just as it was post-hour whenever whatever happened "happened" - very strange.
I msg'd the "owners" to see if the server got scrat'chd or sumpin' !!! 

* FIXED *

[prémont]

               


Not available on CD - Sandor re-recorded all three Bartok
piano concertos in 1989, available on a Sony legacy CD,
but he was very old and lacked power - not recommended.

Sandor has always been my preferred Bartok pianist. I think he played with great authority and imagination.
I do not think the Sony set is that bad, but of cpurse I prefer the Vox set.
BTW the Vox set is available on CD (the three concertos and the sonata), look here:

http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Bela-Bartok-1881-1945-Klavierkonzerte-Nr-1-3/hnum/7990234

[Scion7]

Ah - so it is!  My search didn't show it turning up anywhere.  Strange.

On CD, I have Bavouzet/Noseda/BBC Phil, and it is alright, but nowhere near the Sixties Sandor album -
he plays it with the fire that I think he was instructed to by Bartok.   Just wish it had a little better sound!
   As in "presence" - the piano sounds ok, it's the orchestra that isn't quite full enough for total satisfaction.

[prémont]

Ah - so it is!  My search didn't show it turning up anywhere.  Strange.

On CD, I have Bavouzet/Noseda/BBC Phil, and it is alright, but nowhere near the Sixties Sandor album -
he plays it with the fire that I think he was instructed to by Bartok.   Just wish it had a little better sound!
   As in "presence" - the piano sounds ok, it's the orchestra that isn't quite full enough for total satisfaction.

Yes, I agree that the sound of the orchestra is the main problem with the Vox recording, this was BTW often the problem with Vox.

There is also a live Sandor recording of piano concerto no.2 with Fricsay on Orfeo. I do not know it, but it is on my wishlist.
http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Bela-Bartok-1881-1945-Klavierkonzert-Nr-2/hnum/6364811

My alternative preferred recording of the piano concertos are the Anda/Fricsay set, which may be too lyrical to some.

[Scion7]

http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/marc-chagall/over-the-town-1918

That was really bugging me!  The Belarus painter Marc Chagall (who went to France to live).