The performances of Bartók’s three piano concertos are inspired, stimulating and at many moments simply delicious ★★★★☆

The idea is as simple as it is brilliant. Program all three piano concertos by Béla Bartók (1881-1945) in one evening and have them played by three pianists. You have both a good comparative study and you hear the development that Bartók went through.

Iván Fischer, like Bartók Hungarian, conducted all three on Thursday with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, where he is now ‘honorary guest conductor’. For the solo parts he had brought three fellow countrymen with him because, he said in his introduction: for these pianists Bartók’s music is like their mother tongue. Here we go again: do you really understand the music better if you come from the same country? (Isn’t Martha Argerich Argentinian then?) You forgive Fischer at the first measure, because the performances are inspired, provocative and at many moments simply delightful.

If this is their native language, the soloists speak it in very different accents. Zoltán Fejérvári (number 1) has a sharp articulation, where János Balázs (2) presses the right pedal with finesse and has a pianissimo that makes your mouth water. They make a better turn than Dénes Várjon (3), the star of the evening, who underlines the optimism in the score (Bartók was very ill when he wrote the concerto).

Bartók thought a lot about the stage set-up, something Fischer also likes to experiment with. In the first concert, for example, the percussionists sat at the front, in the second pianist János Balász was surrounded by brass players. That undoubtedly influences how the pianists play, in any case we now heard much better how good that new timpani player (Tomohiro Ando) is.

Yes, Bartók’s music contains a lot of information to digest in one evening. All the more reason to make this a tradition.