Martha Argerich and friends caught live in a typically adventurous programme of twentieth-century chamber music
... Even more of a rarity is Liszt’s Concerto pathetique, here in the two-piano arrangement of the later version of what’s usually known as the Grosses Konzertsolo. Historically its single-movement form was an important forerunner of the great B minor Sonata. Musically its assemblage of favourite rhetorical devices is hugely obvious but also great fun if you take it simply as a vehicle for larger-than-life artistry. Argerich and Freire are a team of long standing, and their understanding is as close as their temperaments are uninhibited - a sure recipe for fireworks.
The Bartok Contrasts are of course no stranger to the catalogues. They receive as engaging and idiomatic a performance as you could wish for.
For supposedly live recordings there’s little or no evidence of audience presence, and the recording quality has no drawbacks except for the too backwardly placed piano in the Bartok.