It is fascinating to compare this 2008 recording of Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta with the one that Kocsis and his co-founding conductor at the Budapest Festival Orchestra Iván Fischer recorded in 1985 and that Philips released as part of Bartók’s complete works for piano and orchestra (1/88 – nla). The main differences between them concern the extra tonal weight of the earlier version and the comparative refinement of the newer one, especially in the fugal Andante tranquillo that opens the work, where the strings of the Hungarian National Philharmonic play virtually sans vibrato. Fischer’s conducting is punchy and flexible and his recording packs a more obvious wallop. Kocsis’s version is rather more strict-tempo and linear, though both drive hard and fast through the second and fourth movements.

For me the highlight of Kocsis’s performance is the Adagio, where the varieties of percussion are superbly focused by the recording and the atmosphere is held as if on a single breath. Barring such indelibly memorable “old boys” as Reiner (RCA) and Fricsay (DG), both of whose recordings are mandatory purchases for any serious fans of the work, I’d say that between them Kocsis and Fischer have the piece more or less sewn up but that Kocsis’s straighter, subtler course will wear better on repetition.

Kocsis’s Divertimento is again given an exciting if comparatively classical reading although the solo fiddle in the finale has a definite “gypsy” tang about it. The lacerating accents that tear at the central Adagio really do tell, and so do the creeping, shadowy crescendos – truly the stuff of nightmares. The Hungarian Sketches are characterfully played and vividly spotlit, especially the tipsy fourth movement and the dashing “Swineherd’s Dance” that closes the Suite. Excellent sound throughout adds to the pleasure (the string bands in Music for Strings are very effectively divided left and right of the overall spectrum) and while I would also remain loyal to Fischer, where comparisons apply, Kocsis’s performances are different enough to serve as viable alternatives. You can’t really go wrong with either.