Three of the planet’s finest pianists (Krystian Zimerman, Leif Ove Andsnes, and Hélène Grimaud) join forces with three of its finest orchestras (Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, and Berlin Philharmonic) to record Bela Bartók’s three fiendishly difficult Piano Concertos: which of the 27 combinations will deliver the most transcendent results?

Pierre Boulez aces this SAT logic puzzle on this 2004 Deutsche Grammophon compilation, with an intuition for casting to match his consummate understanding of the composer’s quirky soundworld. Zimerman and the vaunted Chicago Symphony Orchestra brass section pummel each other with heavyweight haymakers in the brutally percussive First Concerto. Andsnes and the Berlin Philharmonic pirouette through the intricate neo-Baroque passagework of the Second with disarming panache. Grimaud glides across the Third atop the urbane sheen of the London strings.