BARTÓK’S THREE PIANO CONCERTOS

Béla Bartók the uncompromising individualist, the architect, and the poet – it is these very aspects of the great composer’s personality that are encapsulated by his three piano concertos. The works capture precisely the stages of the composer’s life, from the discovery of his own musical language to tempestuous energy, and finally to his acceptance of life’s end. All of this now comes to life on a Supraphon album featuring the young pianist Tomáš Vrána. Supraphon will release the album on Friday, 23 May 2025 on CD and in the digital formats Hi-Res, FLAC, and MP3.

“Apart [from it] being quite rare to see a pianist so dedicated to [such] difficult pieces, it is even less common to see a young musician mastering them with such musical intelligence [and] deep knowledge of the orchestra score coupled with

a great sense of rhythm and a masterful technique!” That is what the renowned pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet has to say about Tomáš Vrána.

For his Supraphon debut, Tomáš Vrána has joined forces with the Janáček Philharmonic in Ostrava under the baton of the Hungarian conductor Gábor Káli. The recording presents Bartók’s three piano concertos: the First Concerto full of tempestuous energy, the Second Concerto with its dark, uniquely conceived second movement, and the Third Concerto with its mood of calm conciliation in contrast with the earlier works.

“I’ve already had Bartók’s three concertos in my repertoire for a rather long time. The bulk of the work was about details or the concrete things in the piano part that I wanted to bring out, things I knew are not all that audible on other recordings,” says Tomáš Vrána, describing the process of preparing to make the recording.

Despite the extraordinary technical demands that make performances of these works a special challenge, Tomáš Vrána’s interpretations of Bartók’s piano concertos transform the works into deeply resonant musical events of emotional power. “It’s the energy of the First Concerto that fascinates me; it’s a kind of ‘bad boy’s concerto’. On the other hand, the thing that has always especially attracted me to the Second Concerto is the incredibly dark, slow second movement,” he says.

Along with the recording, Tomáš Vrána has also written an interesting text that listeners will find in the CD booklet – further proof of his depth of musical insight and his respect for Béla Bartók’s music.