In his 7th Pure DSD 256 Stereo album at NativeDSD, pianist Laszlo Borbely is joined by the Savaria Symphony Orchestra conducted by Janos Kovacs in a performance of Bartok’s Piano Concerto No. 1

This new album from Hunnia is a Pure DSD 256 recording, available in Pure Stereo DSD 256 plus DSD 512, DSD 128 and DSD 64 exclusively at NativeDSD. It is a DSD Exclusive, Not Available on SACD release.

Laszlo Borbely tells us “For a pianist, Béla Bartók’s piano concertos are a central reserve of power. They are works that have been worth their weight in the piano stool for nearly forty years. These works are essential building blocks of ‘pianism’. To speak of Bartók, the composer (and thus this music), is an almost impossible undertaking. But why should I? Far more knowledgeable people than I have done it. What is the difficulty? Perhaps primarily because in his case, ‘great’, or ‘one of the greatest’, ‘greatest ever’,… categories all tend to dissipate.

Bartók is a trademark. Hungaricum, if you like. A trademark that feeds on his Hungarianism, his roots, the fixed idea of the brotherhood of peoples and the silence of the universe. To play Bartók is ultimately to realize our own smallness. This is the superabundance that enhances an artist’s day, again and again. It is this ‘biblical’ vision, so to speak, that always – and ever more forcefully and insistently – tears the first laborious step towards excellence…out of me.

Playing Bartók is particularly difficult. Learning from him is a goldmine. To be grateful to him is a must. I owe a debt of gratitude to everyone who has stood by me in this endeavor.” 

Laszlo Borbely – Piano
Savaria Symphony Orchestra
Janos Kovacs – Conductor