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Bartok: The Complete Piano Concertos on CD

The three Bartok concertos - Tomas Vrana's exciting debut

Bartok as an uncompromising individualist, Bartok as an architect, Bartok

as a poet - that could be a simplified characterisation of his three piano

concertos; three works that capture in a surprisingly fitting way the stages

of the composer's life, from the discovery of his own musical language to

refinement and finally his acceptance of the difficult end to his life's journey.

The calm and peaceful mood of the most frequently played Third Piano

Concerto contrasts strikingly with the relentlessly tempestuous struggle

of the First and the lively vitality of the Second. To this day, however, extreme

technical difficulty hinders the more frequent performing of these works.

The playing of the young piano virtuoso Tomas Vrana, joined on the recording

by the Janacek Philharmonic Ostrava and the Hungarian conductor Gabor

Kali, definitely goes well beyond mere technical mastery in the works. His

debut received high praise from Jean-Efflam Bavouzet: "Apart from it being

quite rare to see a pianist so dedicated to such difficult pieces, it is even

less common to see a young musician mastering them with such musical

intelligence and deep knowledge of the orchestra score coupled with

a great sense of rhythm and a masterful technique!" Tomas Vrana also

exhibited similar sensitivity and mastery in his use of language - he

accompanied his recording with an interesting text for the CD booklet.