Bartok: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Bartók's Piano Concertos are among the most difficult ever written; only  a piano virtuoso of amazing dexterity, along with a virtuoso orchestra, can play  them. Maurizio Pollini is that pianist, and the Chicago Symphony is that  orchestra. The pianist's command of the music is consistently impressive, and  Claudio Abbado leads the orchestra in extremely close sympathy with the pianist.  The result is a set of performances that would be ideal except for two factors.  One is that this LP reissue contains only two Concertos, when all three can fit  on one CD. The other is that the recording balance so undervalues the orchestra  that you can't hear everything. I'd love to hear these artists rerecord the same  music with better engineering.--Leslie Gerber