Tiberghien's Bartok, Volume 3

This is the third and last volume of Cedric Tiberghien's Bartok series. I've loved every volume, and this features the ultimate recording of the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion. This is it baby! I mean really, nobody needs to record it again. I can't imagine it done better (well I guess surround-sound would be nice, but oh well — this recording is vivid enough to be sure). When it comes to Bartok's piano music, everybody compares to the recently-late, great Zoltan Kocsis, but with all due respect I like Tiberghien's way with this music more. Bartok's own recordings had a certain roundness and human warmth that Kocsis often lacked, and while Tiberghien doesn't sound like Bartok, there is a sense of micro-fascination that comes across even in the most sparse music (especially on the other albums), making passages that are meant to be gray or brown absorbingly so.

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