Over to Germany this week for a concert by the Wuppertal Symphony, conducted by Toshiyuki Kamioka and featuring legendary Hungarian pianist Dezso Ranki in music of Liszt and Bartok. The concert was broadcast live by WDR3 in Germany.

Here's what they play:

Montag, 23.04.12 um 20:05 Uhr
WDR 3 Städtekonzerte NRW
Live - Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal

Franz Liszt
Zwei Legenden

Béla Bartók
Klavierkonzert Nr. 2 Sz 95

Béla Bartók
Konzert für Orchester Sz 116

Dezsö Ránki, Klavier

Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal
Leitung: Toshiyuki Kamioka

Live aus der Historischen Stadthalle Wuppertal
Redaktion: Christoph Held

The concert is broken up between two players - the top player features the Liszt and the Bartok Piano Concerto and the bottom player features Concerto For Orchestra.

Announcements are in German, so drag out your translation books.

Otherwise, perfect Anti-Road Rage Wednesday music. No?

Taking a break from Radio Transcriptions this week and offering commercial recordings instead. This one from Bela Bartok's longtime assistant and champion Tibor Serly, who conducts the New Symphony Orchestra of London is Bartok's Deux Images for Orchestra.

It was recorded at Kingsway Hall, London on August 1950 and was originally issued as an early lp (BRS-305)

The work is in two parts - "In Full Flower" and "Village Dance".

Taking a brief foray into the Transcription Service of Armed Forces Radio this week. Here is a recording of a concert at the Hollywood Bowl by The Los Angeles Philharmonic, guest conducted by Walter Hendl and featuring legendary violinist Issac Stern in a performance of the then-newly discovered Violin Concerto Number 1 by Bela Bartok.

The concert was recorded during the 1961 Hollywood Bowl season. Stern recorded this piece for Columbia Records with the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy also in 1961. I doubt this particular performance has seen the light of day, so it's something of a rarity for Stern collectors.

And even if you're not, it's still rare and the recording probably hasn't been heard in some fifty years.