Hungary's late great Composer Bela Bartok used to refer fondly to his First Piano Concerto as his "stepchild." Critics have often used harsher terms. "Unmitigated ugliness," wrote the Nation at the work's U.S. premiere. That was in 1928, when the 46-year-old composer himself was at the piano and his old friend Fritz Reiner on the podium. Since then, the work has rarely been performed in Europe and never by a major U.S. orchestra. Last week it made a long overdue reappearance under the baton of Conductor Reiner, and this time the stepchild clearly strode with a giant's tread.
The piano soloist with...
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