With the exception of Out of Doors, the Sonata, and the Suite Op. 14, Bartók’s piano music almost never figures on recital programs. While many pieces have a pedagogical aim, the remnant is mostly made up of miniatures that at first sight seem to be less suited to the concert stage. It’s a pity, because they all rely on the simple but intense beauty of Eastern European folk melodies and are notable for the imaginative ways in which the composer uses them. The Three Etudes Op. 18 certainly deserve wider recognition: fiendishly difficult, they combine savage rhythmic dissonance and a haunted atmosphere with extreme sophistication. Jerome Lowenthal plays them with impressive assurance and fluent technique. Here, as in the Op. 6 Bagatelles, his variety of touch perfectly translates Bartók’s kaleidoscopic writing and comes very close to Zoltan Kocsis’ slightly more flexible performances. From staccato to legato, from sforzando to marcato, to the typically Bartókian “parlando”, the infinite nuances of articulation and accent requested by the composer are observed with a precision that is as vivid as it is scrupulous. Lowenthal’s tone is neither hard nor aggressive, yet it convincingly conveys Bartók’s peculiar roughness and motoric rhythm. The Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm from Mikrokosmos, Book 6, swing with elegance and untiring dynamism. Finally, Out of Doors offers a summary of Lowenthal’s playing, at once strong, almost clinically exact, but still lively and imaginative. Only the Night’s Music, with its mysterious calls and anguished whispers, seems to resist the pianist’s implacably lucid approach. It’s not enough to spoil the overall impact of this excellent CD, nor is the unpleasant metallic resonance of the recording in the louder dynamics.
