The complete circuit model of a three-phase AC-DC matrix converter， namely matrix rectifier， is derived using circuit dq transformation and based on current space vector algorithm. Its performance is analyzed systematically， including power characteristics， such as output voltage gain and polarity， input power factor， active power， reactive power and appearance power. The gained formulas are plotted into diagrams for comparative analysis. It is shown that the converter is one of the flexible converters like three-phase to three-phase matrix converter with the following features:（1） the output DC voltage can be regulated between positive and negative maximum values， with a maximum value of 1.5 input phase voltage amplitude and depending on input current displacement and load resistance;（2） its power switch circuit is equivalent to an ideal transformer， capable of performing voltage， current and impedance conversion;（3） the active power at mains is dependent on input current modulation index， input filter parameters， input current displacement and load resistance， so are reactive power and input power factor;（4） the passive power control is dependent on active power at mains. The operational conditions of unitary input power factor are analyzed specifically and the four quadrant working system and power characteristics are partitioned.