Zoltán Kocsis was born in Budapest in 1952 and has recorded for Philips for many years, building an extensive catalogue. His advocacy of Hungarian music and musical life has made him a kind of national institution. He has won many national and international awards and is highly praised by critics everywhere. He has one volume in the Great Pianists edition performing Bartók, Dohnányi, Debussy, Grieg, Liszt and Rachmaninoff.

This album is of work by Hungary's number one composer and played by one of the greatest pianists and musicians around today. Kocsis began recording these works following a tour to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bartok's death. The cycle is an ambitious project involving a tremendous amount of study and research into forgotten scores.
 

"Kocsis' mastery of tone, rhythm and articulation, allied to his painstaking attention to important source material (namely Bartók's scores and records), make for a level of pianistic distinction that is fairly unique in this repertory. I have not heard playing of this calibre since the days of 78s - and by that I mean playing where so much rhythmic flexibility is achieved within such a disciplined interpretative framework"
Gramophone, July 1997 on Bartok: Piano Works, Vol.4