Martha Argerich (piano) Deutsche Grammophon 477 7557 *****

It might look like there’s nothing new here. However, these aren’t the Chopin recordings Martha Argerich made for Deutsche Grammophon in the 1960s and 1970s, but radio recordings made in Berlin and Cologne. The earliest is from 1959, when Argerich was still 17 and a full six years away from her first prize at the Chopin Competition of 1965. The rest are from 1967, culminating in a radio taping of the B minor Sonata from a Berlin concert. Argerich was than as unfettered a musical spirit as she is now, famously excitable, but equally as fine at inward musings. She plays eight mazurkas here in a style to remind one why she won the special mazurka prize in 1965 as well the first prize in Warsaw. A treasurable collection. See url.ie/57as