Live from Lugano

Martha Argeric and Friends EMI Classics 070 8362 (3CDs) ****

Martha Argeric and Friends EMI Classics070 8362 (3CDs) ****

The piano is everywhere in this selection from the Progetto Martha Argerich concerts at last year's Lugano Festival. Argerich herself marked significant centenaries, in Schumann with Renaud and Gautier Capuçon on violin and cello, and in Chopin with a youthfully spry account of the First Piano Concerto under Jacek Kaspszyk. She also got in on the festival's numerous multi-piano undertakings, in Bartók's Sonata for two pianos and percussion (with Stephen Kovacevich, Louis Sauvêtre and Danilo Grassi) and Liszt's Les Préludesfor two pianos (with Daniel Rivera).

The real high jinks are in other hands, in a three-piano version of Stravinsky's Firebird Suiteand a Porgy and Bess Fantasyfor two pianos by Percy Grainger. Two substantial 20th-century piano quintets (Schnittke and Korngold) plus works by Brahms and Granados feature in this always engrossing collection. See url.ie/57cs

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan is a music critic and Irish Times contributor