Featured artists:
Pierre Amoyal, James Conlon, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Sakari Oramo, Franz Welser-Möst, Mariss Jansons, Constantin Silvestri, András Schiff, Iván Fischer, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Pierre Boulez, Yehudi Menuhin, Sir Simon Rattle, Antal Doráti, Eric Ericson, Bernard Haitink, Anne Sofie von Otter, Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Renaud Capuçon, Martha Argerich, Gidon Kremer, Oleg Maisenberg, Michael Collins, Alban Berg Quartett, Michel Beroff, Samson François, György Sebők, Vilde Frang, Gautier Capuçon, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Boris Berezovsky, Dinu Lipatti, Lili Kraus, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Charles Bruck, Desző Ránki
Béla Bartók is regarded as one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century, the creator of a body of works as immense as it is complex. He was passionate about Hungarian folk music and carried out serious ethnological research in the field, his interest stemming not from romantic sentimentality, but from a fascination with its simplicity and spontaneity. Bartók was constantly seeking to deepen his art as a composer, as can be seen from his numerous changes in style. From his final period comes the Concerto for Orchestra, a work which, more than any other perhaps, helped increase his popularity.
