I love this disc to death. The mix really suits the music in my opinion, syrupy romantic pieces with a syrupy enveloping sound. The orchestra is placed at the front as usual (as it should be) but there is a lot of rear information too. Whether this is because the recording venue is very reverberant or because the Naxos engineers decided to sneak an extra db or two into the rears is hard to tell. The centre channel does a lot of work, carrying most of the direct sound of the piano but not to the extent that it sounds detatched from the orchestra. The downside of the mix is that the orchestra is a little indistinct and so this disc isn't suitable for really analytical listening, however for just sitting back and letting the music wash over you it is superb. Perhaps I'll buy a performance with clearer sonics in the future but I have a feeling I'd still play this one most of the time.
I don't have any other recordings of this piece so I cant be very objective about the performance, but I find it very enjoyable and there is plenty of emotion in all the playing. Definitely a good starter for those who are not big classical music fans and a worthwhile disc for those who are. 8/10