Televised concerts from Verbier are oases in the dross that litters Sky TV's Arts channel and probably more easily searched out (and enjoyed) online through medici.tv.
A new Deutsche Grammophon double album takes us to the Swiss Alpine Festival in 2007 when pianist Martha Argerich had "carte blanche" to devise and preside over an evening of favourite music with some of her closest colleagues.
Michael Church, in his booklet essay, describes it as "a night to remember in Verbier" and, despite the thud of cliche, a sense of occasion, even on CD, is palpable.
Beethoven's Ghost Trio, with Argerich joining violinist Julian Rachlin and cellist Mischa Maisky, is high-tensile - especially in its explosive Allegro vivace e con brio. Later, eerie and unsettling phantoms prowl in the Largo that gives the work its nickname.
Violist Yuri Bashmet may not acquit himself without a few blemishes in Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata but what are minor stumbles in a performance of such glowing intensity? The Russian's pizzicato, the legacy of a score written for an instrument that was a cross between guitar and cello, easily vie with Argerich's sonorous Steinway.
