For those who like music trivia questions‚ what is the common link between the Op 1s of Béla Bartók and of Swedish composer Kurt Atterberg? Answer: they are both Rhapsodies for piano and orchestra. Bartók’s is – slightly – the earlier‚ but Atterberg’s (1908­09) is the more accomplished and characteristic piece‚ all the more strikingly so as he had at this time received little formal tuition. That said‚ the work as we have it here is the result of thoroughgoing revisions in 1912 and 1956. Perhaps its most remarkable feature is the fluency of the piano writing and the confident handling of the orchestration. Atterberg’s Piano Concerto was begun in 1927‚ the year after Bartók had completed his First‚ but not finished until 1935. It is audibly the work of the same composer‚ which cannot be said when comparing Bartók’s concertos with his earlier Rhapsody. Atterberg’s model was Tchaikovsky’s B flat minor Concerto‚ and he produced a full­bloodedly Romantic work of considerable sweep‚ its heart very much on its sleeve. Although it does not sound overtly Russian in character‚ it should appeal to anyone responsive to‚ say‚ Rachmaninov‚ which is precisely how Derwinger and Rasilainen (rightly) take it in what proves an even more persuasive account than Dan Franklin Smith’s on Sterling (coupled with the Violin Concerto)‚ fine though that was. CPO’s sound is also rather fuller and richer‚ with greater depth‚ and for good measure they throw in the orchestral Ballade and Passacaglia‚ Op 38‚ of 1936‚ one of the Swede’s most attractive shorter scores.