Bartok's piano concertos

[Expresso]

Which recordings would you recommend?

I'm currently considering on choosing between Anda/Fricsay, Pollini/Bohm, Barenboim/Boulez and Kovacevich/Davis.

[longears]

[Todd]

The Kocsis / Fischer set on Philips, if you can find it, is the best all-rounder.  The Anda / Fricsay is excellent, and would be my first choice of the sets you mention.  Remember, neither the Pollini nor Barenboim are complete - each is missing one concerto. 

Others to consider are Schiff / Fischer and Sandor / Gielen (hard left-right stereo, but superb otherwise).  The recent Boulez disc cited above is of variable quality, though the Andsnes is top-flight. 

Avoid Kovacevich.

[bwv 1080]

I am partial to the Sandor set on Sony

[Larry Rinkel]

The Kocsis / Fischer set on Philips, if you can find it, is the best all-rounder.  The Anda / Fricsay is excellent, and would be my first choice of the sets you mention. 

I would agree. These are the two sets I've kept.

[Expresso]

Thanks for the recommendations.
After listening to some samples, i think i prefer the more "savage" approach from Abbado or Boulez (both of his recordings) than the romantic approach of other conductors.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Kocsis/Fischer on Philips. OOP but occasionally pops up on Amazon.

[MishaK]

Which recordings would you recommend?

Anda would be my first choice, too. If you are considering incomplete sets at all, I would get this one:

[Mark]

I've heard only Donohoe under Rattle with the CBSO on EMI. Not bad sound, but that's about all I can say.

[BorisG]

Schiff/Fischer.

[Marcel]

Avoid Kovacevich.

Why??

[MDL]

I've heard only Donohoe under Rattle with the CBSO on EMI. Not bad sound, but that's about all I can say.

Oh, dear! That's the only recording I've got of the Bartok Piano Concertos. Do you think I need to supplement it? I've heard good things about Anda/Fricsay/DG.

[Mark]

Oh, dear! That's the only recording I've got of the Bartok Piano Concertos. Do you think I need to supplement it? I've heard good things about Anda/Fricsay/DG.

Hard to answer this ... I need to hear others in order to compare.

[prémont]

Anda and Fricsay are hard to beat as to poetry and athmosphere.
My second choice would be the noble Sandor and preferably his first Vox recording from the early 1960es, available in a cheap Vox 2CD box coupled with a mystical and tense version of the Sonata for two pianos and percussion (with Rolf Reinhardt 2.piano). Sandors second set of the concertos for Sony is also rather good, but a bit more stiff, IMO. Of course the sound of the Sony recording is much better than the sound of the Vox.

[Todd]

Why??

He brutalizes the music. 

[Daverz]

I like Ashkenazy/Solti, but I never see this set mentioned much.  I remember not liking the sound of the orchestra in the Anda/Fricsay set, but I should give it another try.

[not edward]

He brutalizes the music. 

Seconded. It really isn't a very subtle interptetation, and a lot of the finer details go unremarked. I'd make a similar observation regarding Donohoe/Rattle.

I've got both Anda/Fricsay and Schiff/Fischer and can recommend both for a much more rounded view--still need to get Kocsis/Fischer, though.

[val]

I may be repeating myself, but  regarding the first two Concertos, Bishop Kovacevitch and Colin Davis are my favorites. Their version of the 3rd is good, but in that work Annie Fischer with Fricsay are extraordinary.

Anda/Fricsay are, to me, a good second choice.

There is also a splendid version of the first concerto by Serkin and Szell.

[Daverz]

3rd is good, but in that work Annie Fischer with Fricsay are extraordinary.

Well, as long as we're singling individual recordings out, Katchen/Kertesz was my imprint recording of the 3rd, one of my favorite recordings of anything.  They are very poetic in the middle movement and thrilling in the outer movements.

[vandermolen]

This is my favourite version:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bart%C3%B3k-Piano-Concertos-B%C3%A9la/dp/B000001GPW/ref=sr_1_1/203-1677141-7385525?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1194518416&sr=1-1