Béla Bartók is one of the unquestionably ‘great’ composers and one of the few of a more recent age to succeed in establishing themselves in the repertoire. His three piano concertos are central to his biography and musical output, but only No. 3, with some generosity, could be considered ‘popular’. Although well represented on disc, the first two are rarely performed in concert. Tzimon Barto sees a problem in adopting an overly mechanical approach to these two percussive works: “Even Bartók needs a supple touch. If you bang away at it, without rhythmical buoyancy, of course it will become tedious.” These recordings reflect how he does justice to this approach.