LISZT: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2....

LISZT: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2. DOHNANYI: Variations on a Nursery Rhyme. Zoltan Kocsis, piano; Budapest Festival Orchestra conducted by Ivan Fischer. Philips 422 380-2. Kocsis takes the Liszt concertos for what they are--i.e., virtuoso showpieces--and runs with them, muscling, scampering, hinting, tip-toeing and thundering his way through in remarkably bravura performances. The orchestra catches the bug with an athletically taut and brassy accompaniment; these performances positively swagger. And these performers give the Variations a voluptuously polished, spirited account.