Martha Argerich: Lugano Concertos - REVIEW

Martha Argerich: Lugano Concertos

Concertos by Beethoven, Poulenc, Mozart, Schumann, Prokofiev, Liszt & Bartok; assorted works by Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Stravinsky & Milhaud

DG 4779884 (4CD)

EMI having loyally supported Martha Agerich’s annual ‘Progetto’ at the Lugano Festival, it now falls to DG to release a cornucopia of concertos from the same source – and they do her proud. 

The assortment of concertos is appropriately motley: Poulenc’s fizzling Double Concerto nuzzles between Mozart and Beethoven; Argerich stalwarts the Schumann, Bartok 3, Prokofiev’s First and Third all have something fresh, some revelatory detail that the keen listener will not have heard before.

Vocal works that formed part of the Progetto reach CD for the first time: a choral take on Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer is the most ovate of curate’s eggs, and Les noces of Stravinksy comes off well with some finely etched solo contributions.

There is sense that the some of the conductors, seven in number recorded over seven years’ festivals, sometimes can’t match Argerich for panache and charisma… but then who can?

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