Mozart Piano Concerto 21.

Look, I have serious violinist/collector friends who Love Hillary Hahn. Rave about her. It's just my taste. I would start with the Szigeti Bach's, there is a Biddulph with a selection of his works, Bach, Bartok, Brahms, and something else, it's a good start. Check out his Brahms Concerto recordings- incredible. And his Mozart Sonatas with Szell and Horszowski is my favorite recording of just about anything. It restores my faith in art and music. He is kind of the polar opposite of Heifetz (who I love). Kind of Ying to Heifetz' Yang. Or another great recording of his is the Recital at the Library of Congress with Bela Bartok at the piano, Beethoven Kreutzer, Bartok Rhapsody, Debussy Sonata, nad Bartok sonata. You'll realize that Bartok was one of the genius pianists of this century. It sounds like a great jazz colaboration. There is a philip's japanese cd pressing of the bach's. bad sound, and he was a little past his prime- which you can hear on a biddulph short pieces album. But the monumental artistry is obvious.
Check out the Bach of Menuhin's youth, it is delicious. I'm a fan, so I also appreciate his admittedly more funky and earthy(read slightly out of tune and shaky) later Bach performances. I actually prefer them, in the same way I prefer bruised, browned overly ripe peaches that when you bite in to them, the overly sweet juices run all over and it is a complete mess, but the flavor is divine.
Not to beat a dead horse, but to me Hillary Hahn, is like a very good, perfectly round, flawless, firm peach, with good color,not quite ripened yet, peach that you buy at a gourmet produce store.

sorry, philips japanese bach is of georges enesco.

I heard pletnev on the radio playing Mozart 24(?) with a german chamber orchestra, I found it engaging and him a very good pianist. Bright and healthy in tone, beautiful slow movement, and made sense of the music. I was picking up my wife at the airport, and stayed in the car to hear who it was because it wasn't the usual mindless, generic approach. I like him alot.
As for Josh Bell... He is a joke. I find he trades on his glamour boy image more than anything else. I find his playing is vulgar and distorted. Completely uninteresting. And Tasmin Little is lucky she has the Brit machine behind her, because she isn't much of a violinist or a musician(IMO).

cpdunn, as for Serkin, you are probably referring to his recordings after he moved to the US. i.e. the beethovens with bernstein and nyphil, his beethoven sonatas... etc. etc. I find all of them lifeless and sterile.
But... do you know his recordings with Adolph Busch?
The best Serkin recordings that I know of are his Schubert Fantasy with Busch(transcendant and sublime), Brahms vln sonatas with Busch, Brahms A minor piano quartet, Mozart and Haydn trios with Busch... This is the Serkin that I know and love. I have a feeling that he came to the states and was offered a limitless carte blanche recording contract and just churned them out.

You mention Bartok was a supreme pianist/artist, I completely agree. Take a listen as well to Ravel and Sarasarte performing their works on the piano rolls, absolutely stunning!!! Unbelievable! They are poetic with awesome skill. The same can be said about Rachmaninov's playing. I'll have to invest in the Szigeti. On the Pletnev, I'll have to give a second hearing. Your comparison of Hahn to a "lighter tasting peach" well describes vs the perfect tech sound of Oistrakh or the tremendous emotional content of Heiftz's playing. By the way did we ever answer Gdollar's question about the recommendation of the 21st Mozart? If he is reading along he sure is getting his money's worth on this thread! Maybe time to start other questions. BTW there is a classical chat site over at Gramophone. Its OK, hope to get better.