Schumann / Bach / Brahms (vinyl)

Here is a meeting of great musical minds. Itzhak Perlman and Martha Argerich came together for a single recital in Saratoga in 1998, two thirds of which was released – their only previous disc together. Now we have the other sonata from that concert, Schumann’s No 1 in A minor. From the start, Argerich’s piano playing is supremely alive, moving under Perlman’s muscular melody in ebbing, tugging waves. Perlman spins out the second movement into a single, seamless phrase; his tone is a bit crunchy in the agitated finale, but the exhilaration of a live performance is all there. Even more intriguing are the new studio versions of Schumann’s Drei Fantasiestücke, Brahms’s FAE Scherzo and Bach’s C minor Sonata. Perlman’s tone may be fractionally less sweet than it was nearly two decades ago, but the sense of line in his playing remains supreme, and Argerich’s Bach accompaniments are like a sprung dancefloor underneath him.