Prokofiev: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 3 / Bartok: Piano Concerto No. 3
Martha Argerich first recorded the Prokofiev Third Concerto in the late '60s. Her fiery, hair-trigger playing, abetted by Claudio Abbado's incisive support with the Berlin Philharmonic in top form, set new standards for this warhorse. No one's come close to toppingher extraordinary achievement, not even Argerich herself in this remake with Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. The recording quality, for one, is less well defined. Dutoit imparts less character to the orchestral tuttis than Abbado, and Argerich's fingerwork, remarkable by anyone else's standard, is a shade more casual (compare the extensive unison octave runs: stupefyingly perfect in the early version, brilliantly competent here.). By contrast, the pianist's scintillating, witty traversal of Prokofiev's brash First Concerto shines with youthful ardor. While one can easily admire the lyric fire she brings to Bartók's third Concerto, some of her agogic fussings pull focus from, rather than strengthen, the music's inherent classicism.Zoltán Koscis,András Schiff, andAnnie Fischer(all Hungarian pianists, not uncoincidentally) imbue their phrasings with a more internalized, speech-like expression.--Jed Distler