Riccardo Frizza & Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

Bartók’s ‘Concerto for Orchestra’ (composed in the USA) is one of the Hungarian composer’s most popular works: the piece was a great success at its premiere in Boston, and after the composer’s death it conquered concert halls around the world. When it was finally premiered in April 1947 in Hungary, the distinguished composer and occasional music critic Endre Szervánszky wrote the following: “The concert-goer audience of Budapest was happy to find that for once they had understood everything: they shared Bartók’s repressed and deep lyricism and laughed with his grotesque humour. I believe Bartók’s Concerto will rival the greatest musical works in popularity.”