“My only regret,” lamented Bartók a few days before his death, “is that I have to leave with a full suitcase.” This was even after he unpacked a series of incredible masterpieces from his baggage during the final, American, phase of his life. While he had only by then managed to partially extract the Viola Concerto, originally intended for the bow of William Primrose, the composition is nonetheless impressive – and tempting to reconstruct – in its state of incompleteness, as demonstrated by the 2019 version by Miklós Rakos, which Miklós Perényi went on to transcribe for cello. His Piano Concerto No. 3, dedicated to Ditta Pásztory and beloved in concert halls everywhere, probably remains the most popular work he ever wrote in the genre for any instrument. Commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky, filled with pained nostalgia and electrified with musical ideas, the Concerto for Orchestra evokes Bartók’s distant native Hungary in a way that might merit it the title the poet Gyula Illyés attached to one of his own works: “Homeland in the Heights”.