COMPOSERS: Liszt
LABELS: DG Classikon
WORKS: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat; Piano Sonata in B minor; Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6; Années de pèlerinage (excerpts)
PERFORMER: Martha Argerich (piano), Lazar Berman (piano)LSO/Claudio Abbado
CATALOGUE NO: 439 409-2 ADD (1960-77)
This disc gets off to a cracking start with a brilliant and seemingly effortless account of the First Concerto by Argerich and Abbado recorded 27 years ago with the LSO. Not renowned for wearing her heart on her sleeve, Argerich nevertheless plays a sensitive Sonata, yet it is inevitably the sheer power of her technique in this pianistic showpiece and in the Rhapsody which impresses so much. Not that Berman has it easy in the two extracts taken from the Years of Pilgrimage; he provides an equally formidable conclusion to this pyrotechnical list of Liszt. Christopher Fifield
Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat; Piano Sonata in B minor; Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6; Années de pèlerinage (excerpts)
This disc gets off to a cracking start with a brilliant and seemingly effortless account of the First Concerto by Argerich and Abbado recorded 27 years ago with the LSO. Not renowned for wearing her heart on her sleeve, Argerich nevertheless plays a sensitive Sonata, yet it is inevitably the sheer power of her technique in this pianistic showpiece and in the Rhapsody which impresses so much. Not that Berman has it easy in the two extracts taken from the Years of Pilgrimage; he provides an equally formidable conclusion to this pyrotechnical list of Liszt. Christopher Fifield
Our rating
5
Published: January 20, 2012 at 3:15 pm