Martha Argerich, The Collection 4, Complete Philips Recordings

Martha Argerich (piano), various performers Decca 478 2746 (6 CDs) ****

Martha Argerich (piano), various performers Decca 478 2746 (6 CDs) ****

Martha Argerich’s complete Philips recordings are now collected in a six-disc set under the Decca banner to celebrate the Argentinian pianist’s 70th birthday. They include some of her most famous performances – the electrifying, whirlwind pianism she brought to Tchaikovsky’s First and Rachmaninov’s Third Concertos, recorded in concert in 1980 and 1982, and celebrated programmes of two-piano works (Mozart, Debussy and Bartók’s Sonata for two pianos and percussion, made in studio with Stephen Kovacevich in 1977) and Rachmaninov, Ravel and Lutoslawski (with Nelson Freire, from 1982). The main rarities are a 1985

Carnival of the Animals

(complete with original couplings, not involving Argerich, of narrative pieces by Alan Ridout and Frieder Meschwitz), and a Schumann and Schubert programme with cellist Mischa Maisky. See url.ie/4w4k

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan is a music critic and Irish Times contributor