Quite some time has passed since Martha Argerich made her last recording. An even longer time has elapsed since she made any studio recordings. Coupled with the fact that the 57-year-old Argentinean pianist is one of the most incandescent yet mysteriously elusive performers alive today, there is no wonder, therefore, that this eagerly-anticipated brand new studio release on EMI Classics is being greeted by fans and classical music lovers around the world with the sort of euphoria and excitement that Horowitz must have been quite used to.

And why not? Especially since Ms Argerich, who continues to bewilder millions with her curious absence from solo piano-playing, is taking on repertoire that is entirely new to her limited but highly-distinguished discography.

Only the Prokofiev Third is familiar Argerich material. And inevitable comparisons with her famous recording made with Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic (on DG) about 3 decades ago have proven to be most fascinating. For those who honestly do not know what to expect from an older Argerich, fear not that this remake will reveal sheepish signs of age. Some might want to interpret her choices of generally slower basic tempi this time round as an indication of fading technical prowess, but such is the conviction of her peerless, dynamic pianism that it would serve only to show such criticisms as both shallow and puerile. Argerich is anything but a tamed tigress.

But this is certainly the work of a much more mature artist. While the Prokofiev Third was treated as a ferocious virtuoso vehicle with a touch of feminine sensuality in the 60s, the 90s reveal the work as one full of fantasy and rhapsodic qualities, fuelled by the same sort of high-octane, spontaneous virtuoso pianism.

Fingerwork is clearer this time round, with rhythms significantly more delicately pointed and razor-sharp. Some might occasionally miss the way the DG recording just lunges forward impetuously with a head full of steam, but this remake, marginally less wild and impetuous but still equally volatile and instinctive, is no less convincing. The second movement Theme and Variations are better-planned here, wittier, more individual and more strongly characterised.

The Prokofiev First, arguably the most successful item on this splendid disc, is also a similarly muscular yet springy affair, a degree less sharp and dry in wit than the excellent Boris Berman (on Chandos) in the outer movements, with Argerich turning and twisting corners with masterly malleability and with an awesome amount of risk-taking.

But it is in the slow section when she easily outshines rivals through the way she relaxes gloriously yet miraculously manages to brew a growing cloud of red-blooded Slavonic passion.

The final work here offers the most surprises: For all her intriguingly un-ladylike qualities and blistering temperament, Argerich's glowing repose throughout Bartók's Third allows the music to bloom with natural dignity and vast spaciousness, with virtuosity more obviously subservient to the wit, lyricism, and Hungarian flavour of the composer's writing.

Ex-husband Charles Dutoit's deeply sympathetic accompaniment deserves equally high praise.

As if these landmark performances themselves are not enough to make this album self-recommending, the EMI engineers have accorded the musicians beautiful sound, well balanced, clear, full of warmth and bloom rather than the sort of bold, excessively sharp focus on the solo instrument common in other recordings of repertoire of this kind.

Urgently recommended.

Copyright © 1998 Lionel H Y Choi