Search - Bartok, Zoltán Kocsis :: Works for Piano Solo 7

Zoltán Kocsis's series of Bartók's piano music is of tremendous importance, both for the interpretations themselves and for the musicological integrity of the enterprise. In volume 7 (the final installment), Kocsis includes the rarely heard 1925 piano version of the Dance Suite. He commands a vast variety of touch (listen especially to the second movement) and imbues the whole with great character. Listeners who are used to the familiar orchestral version will find themselves pleasantly surprised by the emotional and tonal scope of this performance. The Lisztian virtuoso writing of both long and shortened versions of the Rhapsody is dispatched with real panache by Kocsis. Perhaps the greatest storehouse of delight in this collection is the Four Piano Pieces of 1903, one of the first of this composer's works to be published. It seems unbelievable that the first piece is for the left hand alone. The final piece, Scherzo, is spiky and sparkly: Kocsis ensures it is pure delight. Finally, the greyness and grimness of Bartók's own transcription for solo piano of the "Funeral March" from the symphonic poem Kossuth is tellingly portrayed. --Colin Clarke