Mischa Maisky’s cavalier approach to rhythm can be damaging in this “Live in Japan” concert performance, but Martha Argerich’s playing is outstanding throughout. In the Franck Sonata (at least her seventh recording of this work), her most impressive moments include formidable running passages in the Tempo I section of the second movement, as well as the central crisis of the finale where earlier themes return amid cascading torrents of notes. But only the reflective opening of the work can withstand Maisky’s hugely elastic approach. The second movement is all bluster and fury, often too fast to allow the notes to be clearly enunciated, with some roughness to the cello’s announcement of the main theme on the A-string and insufficient tonal contrast in the descending second group. And the coda’s final accelerando gets so breathless that it almost flies beyond control at the end. The third movement’s recitative sections are similarly wayward, but this duo is superb throughout much of the finale, where hand-overs of the main theme are exemplary.
On the other hand, Debussy’s Sonata is exquisitely managed, and the fluency and spontaneity that Maisky provides really does suit the elusive character of the music. The pizzicato interjections in the central episode are riveting, as are the flighty finale’s harmonics; but for moments of highest rapture and genuine surprise, hear Rostropovich and Britten in their classic Decca recording. Finally, in the Chopin Sonata you’ll hear moments of awesome tonal beauty from Maisky in the Largo, and a pretty astonishing (and very fast) display from both artists in the Finale. But Maisky loses the plot early in the first-movement development, and you don’t have to listen against a metronome to appreciate how unrhythmical his playing can be. Argerich, though, does an amazing job of accompanying him given the demands of her own part. I’ll be sticking by the steadier but by no means inexpressive Naxos version from Maria Kliegel and Berndt Glemser. It’s very well played all round, and nicely recorded, too.
