Martha Argerich does not give solo piano recitals anymore. She does something better: she plays duo piano and chamber music with her friends and students. She's been doing it for a couple of decades, and willful as she is, she probably won't change. Besides, when it comes to duo piano and chamber music recitals, Argerich with her friends and students can't be beat. Take, for example, this three-disc set of performances taken from the 2005 Lugano Festival. Although Argerich and her cellist friend Mischa Maisky are the only big names here, the playing is fabulous from start to finish. Does it matter that pianists Nicholas Angelich, Renaud Capuçon, and Gautier Capuçon are nearly unknown when their performance of Mendelssohn's D minor Piano Trio is so ardent? Does it matter that Lilya Zilberstein, Dora Schwarzberg, Lucy Hall, Nora Romanoff-Schwarzberg, and Marc Drobinsky are nearly as unknown -- Zilberstein has recorded for DG and Decca -- when their Brahms' F minor Piano Quintet is so passionate? Although it's true that the performances go from the fabulous to the transcendental when Argerich takes the stage, she couldn't do it without her partners. Her performance with Gabriela Montero of Rachmaninov's Second Suite for two pianos is incredibly sensual. Her performance with Polina Leschenko of Brahms' Variations on a Theme by Haydn is magnificently architectural. And her performance with Piotr Anderszewski of Grieg's arrangement of Mozart's C major Piano Sonata with a freely added second piano part is by far the most affectionate and persuasive reading the piece has ever received. There's more, much more, on this well-filled three-disc set and those who love great piano playing, great duo piano playing, and great chamber music playing owe it to themselves to check it out, particularly in EMI's warm and natural live digital sound.
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