In the years since the acclaimed recordings made by the Hungarian pianist Zolt�n Kocsis back in the 1980s and 90s, no single pianist has attempted to record a complete edition of Bart�k's works for solo piano! For a quarter of a century, no new comprehensive perspective on this multifaceted oeuvre has been cast, an important and varied, yet internally cohesive body of work that displays so many different aspects of Bart�k's creativity. This is exactly what the German pianist Andreas Bach has set out to achieve - "... to find the young Bart�k in the late works as well as the late Bart�k in the early works. And (...) create a recording that presents a Bart�k different from those usually encountered and which are by contrast, 'middle-of-the-road'. Emphasizing "not only the rhythmic and folkloric content, but also providing an opportunity to discover Bart�k's harmonic thinking", an aspect of the composer's language that few fans had the opportunity to appreciate before. Volume1 of this new complete edition presents individual works that Bart�k composed in his mature, personal style, including the Sonata, the Sonatina, the Suite op. 14, and the 14 Bagatelles; folk music influences are present but only as distant references. The next 4 CDs will focus on the "Romantic Bart�k" and will include his early works, compositions written early in his career and still showing influences of 19th century Romantic idiom. CD 5 "Bart�k and Folk Music" is dedicated to his works, and arrangements most directly influenced by folk music. The remaining CDs (Vols. 6-8) are devoted to the major cycles "For Children" and "Mikrokosmos ".