Bartók Premieres: Piano Concerto No. 3, Geörgy Sándor, piano, Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, conductor; Concerto for Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Fritz Reiner, conductor; Portrait, Op. 5, No. 1, Joseph Szigeti, violin, Philharmonia Orchestra, Constant Lambert, conductor. (Pearl GEM 0173)

GEÖRGY SÁNDOR, a long-term piano pupil of Béla Bartók, gave the world premiere of Bartók's Third Piano Concerto with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra in February 1946 and recorded it for Columbia two months later. It has been out-of-print for 50 years; an absence remedied by this new CD reissue on the Pearl label.

A living link to the authentic Bartók performing tradition, Sándor, now 90, has been a member of the Juilliard piano faculty since 1981. Sándor's 1946 Bartók Third is particularly poetic and vibrant. His tempos are fleet, his touch limpid, his tone luminous. Ormandy guides the superb Philadelphia Orchestra sympathetically. Pearl's transfer eliminates surface noise without overly filtering the highs.

In 1958-59, Sándor recorded all three Bartók piano concertos (Vox 5506). They are compromised by crude stereo directionality in which the piano is entirely in the right channel, the orchestra largely on the left. Sándor's exciting 1955 live recording of the Bartók Second Concerto with Ferenc Fricsay suffers from the Vienna Symphony's surprisingly substandard support (Orfeo 276921). Happily, in 1990, Sándor finally recorded the three concertos in modern sound with the capable Hungarian State Orchestra under Adam Fischer (Sony 45835).

Not to be missed is Sándor's monumental 1993-95 traversal of Bartók's solo piano music on a four-CD set (Sony 68275 or 87949), and a two-CD album of Bartók's didactic Mikrokosmos from 1955 (Sony 52528). Also available is a forceful 1967 cycle of Prokofiev piano sonatas (Vox 3500), with a second volume of his solo piano music (Vox 5514).

Bartók Premieres additionally contains a 1946 recording of the Concerto for Orchestra with the Pittsburgh Symphony led by Fritz Reiner (who taught conducting on Juilliard's Summer School faculty, 1948-50); it is outclassed by Reiner's preeminent 1956 Chicago Symphony version. Pearl also includes Bartók's First Portrait hauntingly played by violinist Josef Szigeti, a frequent performing partner of the composer. But it is Sándor's 1946 Bartók Third that is the prime reason for acquiring this disc. In many respects, it has never been surpassed; we are fortunate to have it available again.

Alsop Conducts Barber

Barber: Symphony No, 1, Op. 9; Symphony No. 2, Op. 19; First Essay for Orchestra, Op. 12; The School for Scandal Overture, Op. 5. Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Marin Alsop, conductor. (Naxos 8559024)

MARIN ALSOP, a conductor who has been making an impressive series of CDs in Naxos's indispensable American Classics series, received her master's degree from Juilliard in 1978, studying violin with Joseph Fuchs. Music director of the Colorado Symphony since 1993 and principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony from 2002, Alsop studied conducting with Leonard Bernstein in the late 1980s.

So far, Alsop has recorded four volumes for Naxos of the orchestral works of Samuel Barber with the Glasgow-based Royal Scottish National Orchestra. These include committed and sonically superior performances of Barber's First and Second Symphonies (8559024); the Violin Concerto with Juilliard alumnus James Buswell as soloist (8559044), which was nominated for a 2003 Grammy Award; the Cello Concerto with Wendy Warner (8559088); and the Piano Concerto with Stephen Prutsman (8559133). She has also taped Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 with her own Colorado Symphony (8555714).

Alsop's latest CD is of music by American minimalist Michael Torke, six of whose works have been choreographed by New York City Ballet. The disc features an ebullient percussion concerto and the wryly titled An American Abroad (8559167). Alsop will lead the New York Philharmonic next season in four performances of Candide by her mentor, Leonard Bernstein.

Mention this column at the Juilliard Bookstore to receive a 5-percent discount on this month's featured recordings. (In-store purchases only.)