Rachmaninov may have once called this ''a concerto for elephants'', but that has not prevented pianists of more modest physique from bringing it off. Still, the definitely more elfin than elephantine Cristina Ortiz is just about the last person you would expect to be recording the Third Concerto, and while she brings to it immense skill and no little poetry, for me the end product does not carry full conviction.
What can certainly be said is that she nearly makes up in careful preparation and sensitive inflexion what she lacks in sheer power. Nor is she prepared to stand any nonsense from the orchestra. At the opening of the finale Ivan Fischer and the Philharmonia gallop off at a breakneck tempo, only to be firmly reined in by the piano (how drastic the discrepancy is may be judged by hearing the first seven or eight seconds, then skipping back to the beginning of the track). In the long run though, there is no real substitute for dramatic sweep in this work, and in this respect Cristina Ortiz is just not the right person for the job. Unless you are intrigued by the prospect of some unfamiliar poetic turns of phrase in over-familiar music, this is not a recommendable version.
The recorded balance does the piano no special favours. Indeed coming to the concerto directly after the three Etudes-tableaux, the suddenly more backward placing of the instrument is disconcerting. As performances the solo pieces display much the same pros and cons as the concerto. They are not lacking in temperament or sympathetic passing insights, but for whatever reason (physical constraints may not be the only factor) there is a tendency for the tone to be forced through, especially at the most expansive climaxes.'