This Chandos Collect reissue of Israela Margalit’s piano concerto recordings is a bit of a mixed bag. Disc 1 features a very broad, big-boned reading of the Brahms First, with Margalit making a meal of the daunting piano part, especially in her ravenous pacing of the finale. If the performance doesn’t magically cohere the way Buchbinder/Harnoncourt and Fleischer/Szell do, it’s probably due to conductor Bryden Thompson’s oddly unfocused reading of the orchestra part (with the London Symphony), recorded in somewhat bodiless, early digital sound. However, Mendelssohn’s Capriccio brilliant does make for a soothing aperitif following Brahms’ heavy brooding.
Disc 2, with its improved sound quality and orchestral presentation, finds Margalit hitting a home run in Schumann’s concerto, playing with the perfect combination of impetuousness and poetry that so characterizes this composer (missing only is the daring abandon of Martha Argerich’s performance with Kazimierz Kord). The Saint-Saëns is another fine performance, with Margalit exhibiting much dramatic flair, and Thompson’s straightforward reading with the London Philharmonic provides a suitable backdrop. Although not for connoisseurs, at mid-price this is an attractive set for listeners new to these works.
