Die Pianistin interpretierte im Wiener Konzerthaus Sergej Prokofiews drittes Klavierkonzert.
In gleichem Maße populär und von Kennern verehrt ist Martha Argerich seit über einem halben Jahrhundert einer der ganz wenigen Superstars der klassischen Musik. Ein musikalisches Phänomen, das auch mit 78 Jahren noch zu beindrucken weiß, wie sie im Wiener Konzerthaus mit Prokofjews drittem Klavierkonzert - und eingebettet von gut aufgelegten Wiener Symphonikern unter der Leitung von Lahav Shani - zur Schau stellen konnte.... [weiterlesen]
Over the last several years, a number of videos have been embedded in our pages featuring Martha Argerich and other pianists (Nelson Freire, Evgeny Kissin, Lilya Zilberstein, and others) playing four-hands or two-piano pieces, mostly in live recordings from the Lugano Festival, concerts in the series she organizes, known as the Progetto Martha Argerich. Argerich clearly loves the spirit of collaboration, and she regularly uses her own fame to showcase other pianists in whom she believes, at Lugano and La Roque d'Anthéron. This disc puts many of those two-piano performances, recorded live at the Lugano Festival between 2002 and 2005, onto a two-CD set priced to move, to put alongside the series of chamber music CDs from Lugano released by EMI in the last several years.
Some of the fiercest playing comes from Argerich's pairing with Gabriela Montero, on Rachmaninov's second suite (op. 17). The two have similar temperaments, pianistically feisty and a little unpredictable, and the combination in this devilishly difficult music is mercurial. The two-piano version of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite is fun and light-hearted, if far from simple, played here with Mirabela Dina. Lilya Zilberstein is featured in two works, Rachmaninov's Six Morceaux for Piano, Four Hands, and the much more interesting F minor sonata by Brahms (op. 34bis, adapted from a now-lost string quintet and eventually "finished" as the op. 34 piano quintet). The latter is a performance to savor. Lutosławski's Paganini Variations are as much fun to play as they are to listen to, and Argerich and Giorgia Tomassi go all out, although it is hard not to want instead this piece from Argerich-Montero (shown in the video below, from the Verbier Festival, about 10 seconds faster than Argerich-Tomassi and more secure technically). Yefim Bronfman is his usual iron-fingered self with Argerich in Rikuya Terashima's two-piano transcription of Prokofiev's first symphony, and Polina Leschenko sits second piano to Argerich in the brilliant two-piano transcription of Brahms's Variations on the St. Antoni Chorale.
146'19"
Gabriela Montero / Martha Argerich (Verbier Festival 2007) Variations on a Theme of Paganini
It is one of the disappointments of my concert-going life not yet to have heard Martha Argerich live, which is one of the unfortunate results of her tendency to cancel. She is an idol for most people who love the piano (witness the several hundred videos uploaded to YouTube), and her recordings are often in my ears as the reference point on many pieces. Another film made for the excellent European arts network Arte, this recent installment in the DVD series from Medici Arts Idéale Audience is an hour-long documentary, premiered in 2002, about the elusive Argentinian pianist (also recently reviewed by Vivien Schweitzer in the New York Times). Director Georges Gachot not only convinced Argerich to speak to him on camera (all shot in a single evening in 2001, in between a rehearsal and a performance) but was able to include some remarkable footage, including some of that very rehearsal, of the Schumann concerto with conductor Jörg Faerber and the Württembergisches Kammerorchester.
Mostly she speaks in French, with some anecdotes related in English, and a feisty exchange in German during that rehearsal with Faerber about the details of the Schumann concerto. She speaks a lot about her earliest musical influences. Yet another thing we can thank Claudio Arrau for is that his performance of Beethoven's fourth concerto gave the young Argerich her first musical frisson, awakening something in her, so much so that she insists she is afraid to play the work herself. She played for Viennese pianist Friedrich Gulda, when he came to Argentina, and soon became his only student, for which she first went to Europe. She recounts some wonderful memories of Gulda, and Gachot includes an excerpt of Gulda playing the last movement of Beethoven's op. 27, no. 2 sonata. There is another unforgettable clip of Gulda, playing ping-pong in short shorts, that is probably worth the $20 to buy the DVD by itself.
Trailer for Martha Argerich: Evening Talks
Argerich also speaks about the composers whose music she plays: of one whom she feels suit her style, she says, "Il m'aime" (He likes me). What you will not be prepared for is Argerich's levity, given how serious and intense her stage persona is, the wreath of dark hair, the pouty frown and furrowed brow. She has a wry laugh and even speaks about how Gulda's playing taught her about humor in music. At one point, she says that if she plays Liszt and Chopin on the same program, she feels like she always plays one well and the other not so well, as if one gets jealous of the other, as she puts it. Of course, a good part of the documentary is given over to clips, both old and more recent, of Argerich playing, and such playing! Excerpts of the big concertos -- the Liszt no. 1, the Chopin no. 1, and especially the Ravel G major and Prokofiev no. 3 -- are all absolutely astounding technically. There are also some video clips and pictures of her very young, including her legendary victory at the Geneva Competition (at age 16) and the first prize at the 1965 Chopin Competition (at age 24).
In addition to the documentary, there is 38 minutes of extra footage, complete tracks of music that was excerpted in the film. This includes a full performance of Witold Lutosławski's outrageous two-piano Variations on a Theme by Paganini, with the young pianist Mauricio Vallina, and three encores from a Zurich performance in 2001: a jaw-dropping Scarlatti sonata (the D minor one with the machine-gun repeated notes), a smoky Chopin mazurka, and the Capriccio movement of the second Bach partita.
For American readers interested in trying to hear Martha Argerich, she will play two concerts this month with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center: the Beethoven Triple Concerto (with the Capuçon brothers, tonight) and the Prokofiev 3rd concerto (August 14), under the baton of her ex-husband Charles Dutoit. She will supposedly also be back in the fall, for concerts in Philadelphia (October 2-4), playing both the Prokofiev 1st concerto and the Shostakovich 1st concerto, with Dutoit. They will bring the same program to Carnegie Hall on October 7. For other information, Andrys Basten keeps a meticulous list of Argerich's concert plans.
The performance of Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich with the National Symphony Orchestra was, in my mind, one of the season's most exciting prospects. It was not Argerich at fault this time (so we don't have to blame the possibility that our anti-cancellation prayers were not sincere enough), but the fragile health of the conductor of the NSO's Shostakovich festival, Mstislav Rostropovich. So, instead of finally hearing Argerich play live for the first time this evening (it's rare enough, like the 2005 Roque d'Anthéron festival, now available on YouTube), I am consoling myself with some rare performances by Argerich captured on CD and DVD (besides the 2006 CD with Dora Schwarzberg I reviewed recently).
I sincerely hope that one of you Washington concert planners is trying to figure out how to get the Mahler Chamber Orchestra to play here in Washington. Judging by concert reviews I have read and recordings we have been hearing, Claudio Abbado is in the midst of a twilight miracle with that group. This recording of the second and third Beethoven piano concerti, with Martha Argerich, recently came across my desk and it is a marvel. To say anything more would be beside the point. You may recall that Argerich won a 2006 Grammy -- Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (with Orchestra) -- for this disc and highly deserved it was indeed. Both concerti have that unique sound, of a legendary soloist, a legendary conductor, and each musician of the closely knit Mahler Chamber Orchestra on the same page and giving an extraordinary and singular reading of works we have all heard many, many times. Highly recommended.
For a 1976 appearance on Radio-Canada, Martha Argerich left a relatively rare video recording of herself playing a concerto, in this case the Schumann A minor, op. 54. The sound is not very good, and on the copy I watched there were a few video glitches, but the director keeps the camera mostly on Argerich's hands, as if we were standing over her right shoulder. This makes for an interesting comparison with Hélène Grimaud's recent recording of the same concerto. Argerich, at about the same age in 1977 as Grimaud is now, has a similar volatility, judging by the sometimes confused gestures of the conductor in this DVD, Franz-Paul Decker. Her technique, however, is much more ferocious than Grimaud's. Argerich plays the famous dotted rhythms of the opening bars like percussive jabs at the keyboard, with martial, clipped articulation and flawless accuracy. Her attack could be ultrasharp, either with reinforced thumb stabs or needle-like détaché of her large fingers. The cadenza at the end of the first movement veers between tender rapture and heart-pounding virtuosity. The tempi of the fast movements are superhuman. Grimaud's orchestra (the Staatskapelle Dresden with Esa-Pekka Salonen) is better, but here the CBC Symphony Orchestra does just fine.
The rest of this recital is devoted to two big solo pieces, both of them in remarkable performances. Liszt's Funérailles is an odd piece, with a rather enigmatic and dissonant opening section. You can see that percussive touch at the death knell (at 1:30 in the video on view at YouTube). Argerich's hands are strong and fairly large: at one point she plays an octave tremolo with thumb and third/fourth finger together instead of her pinkie, and it's not much of a stretch. In the return to the fast section (at about 6:25), the bass starts to rumble in a repeated pattern. When it speeds up, that turns into repeated octaves (at 6:59), and Argerich's left hand moves so quickly that it's only a blur. You have to see it to believe it. This wonderful DVD ends with an evocative performance of Ravel's Jeux d'eau (also on YouTube, seen below). The sounds are all impeccably aquatic, like fountains of crashing and silvery water, showing Argerich's finesse. The voicing in that crossed-hands coda (at 4:29) blows my mind every time I watch it, and the expression that passes over Argerich's sphinxian face for about one second at the end -- is it relief? satisfaction? pride? bliss? -- is a rare, unguarded moment.
Of less interest, because some of the performances are not as extraordinary, but still worthwhile is a DVD called Martha Argerich and Friends, recordings made at the Munich Piano Summer Festival, in 1982. This collaborative recital opens with Mozart's Piano Sonata for Four Hands in D Major (K. 381), with Argerich on secondo and Cypriot pianist Nicolas Economou (1953-1993) on the primo part. Economou does his best to keep up with Argerich in a pleasing performance, with a few missed notes here and there. It is then cellist Mischa Maisky's turn, with Argerich at the piano for Schumann's Phanatasiestücke, op. 73. Maisky, looking 80s enough to be a member of Air Supply, gives an impassioned but not very precise performance.
What really makes this DVD worthwhile are the last two selections, works for two pianos, with Martha Argerich seated across back-to-back Steinways from Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire. This was the first time I had ever heard Rachmaninov's Suite for Two Pianos (op. 17, no. 2), and the wave of post-Romantic revulsion his music normally inspires did not overwhelm me. Plus, if you think Rachmaninov wrote for large and challenging sounds with just one piano, with two pianos he is like a kid in a candy shop. Freire and Argerich get almost all those notes and turn in a beautifully shaped and textured performance. In the stunning last movement, Argerich tosses off the repeated-note motifs, at breakneck speed, with awe-inspiring facility. Freire has his own confrontation with those patterns and does equally well. It just may be enough for me to say it: Rachmaninov wrote some good music. Fine, I admit it. Someone has to put that on YouTube -- oh, wait, someone already did.
Rachmaninov, Suite for Two Pianos (op. 17, no. 2) Nelson Freire and Martha Argerich
Switching positions, Argerich and Freire conclude with Ravel's La Valse, equal parts suavity and mania, in the truly orchestral two-piano version. When you hear this piece, you understand why reactionaries thought the waltz would destroy the very fabric of society: it is music that could drive an otherwise innocent person wild. It is hard to imagine what my reaction would be to experience this kind of incendiary playing in person, but I am pretty sure that I would whoop and holler just as we hear the audience doing. No one has put this track on YouTube -- yet! -- but here are all the other videos that have something to do with Martha Argerich on YouTube. Click with caution. You'll be there for hours.
Deutsche Grammophon B0003398-02 / Video Artists International DVD 4210 / Pioneer Classics PC-10356
Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich has made a (relatively) rare appearance at the Festival International de Piano de la Roque d'Anthéron, in southern France (now in its 25th year, arguably the most important piano festival in the world), as I saw and heard briefly on the evening news from France 2. For a concert in honor of her teacher, Friedrich Gulda, she performed on July 29 with young musicians Renaud Capuçon (violin) and Gautier Capuçon (cello) and the Orchestre Symphonique de Flandre, conducted by Alexandre Rabinovitch. André Delacroix had the good fortune to be there to review the concert (Nuit du piano: Martha Argerich rend hommage à Friedrich Gulda, July 31) for ResMusica.com (my translation):
The evening of July 29 will remain in all our memories. And Martha Argerich did not cancel her appearance at the last minute. The audience crowded in to see the "diva with the golden fingers." It was not disappointed. She has defied, once again, the laws of virtuosity and brought the audience to its feet. She joined her body to the instrument, embraced it, grappled with it with stunning mastery. Her fingers glided over the keyboard in a fascinating ballet and toyed with the most difficult passages. She does not live music, she is music, a dream of light and perfection. With no useless effects, with noble sobriety and a remarkable economy of means, she took on Prokofiev's magnificent first piano concerto, created by the composer in August 1912 in Moscow and for which he won first prize two years later at the Rubinstein competition. With clear rhythm and absolutely brilliant phrasing, Martha Argerich brought us into the poetry and depth of this marvelous alternation of slow, dreamy, and sometimes troubling episodes, often cutting, full of energy and rage.
I think he liked it. One of Martha Argerich's avocations these days is to support young musicians. She sat down a 16-year-old pianist named Adriel Gomez Mansur in her place, where he played some Schumann, Rachmaninov, and Scriabin. She also performed, to conclude the concert, the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Capuçon brothers on the string parts. I would have liked to have heard that.
