Little attention to detail and nuance

classical music:


	• Chopin: 26 Préludes, etc / Martha Argerich Frederic Chopin, Martha Argerich Deutsche Grammophon, 1991 average customer review:based on 17 reviews view larger image
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Sound quality and performance

Other reviews here more or less sum up this performance. It is emotive and 'fiery' in its interpretation. It is really a personal matter whether you prefer this or a more laid back approach. The recording has some low level hiss.

Absolutly wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is she agressive? Is she passionate? Is she out of this world? Yes, she is!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's what makes her different and unique!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wonder what are some customers trying to say when they say "Martha Argerich does not sound like Chopin". Of course she doesn't sound like Chopin, because she is creative, and most important, SHE IS NOOOT CHOPIN, SHE IS MARTHA ARGERICH.

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The Preludes as a Lightning Bolt

Every pianist knows the Chopin Preludes, which stand even among his rich output as a cycle of unusually outstanding beauty, variety and mastery of chromaticism. They are played badly by so many novices, and indifferently by so many aspirants, that it is easy to make them sound stale. But Argerich's version has stood aside from all of that hubbub. It has been controversial since the beginning, with her most ardent admirers balanced by some equally militant detractors.

Is Argerich really defiling Chopin, as so many might suggest? I don't think so. Actually, I think that she succeeds brilliantly in making these pieces seem like just what they were in their time - groundbreaking.

Chopin experienced the thrill of treading into unknown waters, exploring obscure and uncharted parts of the human psyche, and bringing it all up to the surface with the utmost concision. I cannot imagine how proud Chopin must have felt to have produced such a creation from his own pen. And it is extreme music - extremely rich, extremely stark, extremely happy, extremely sad, extremely advanced, extremely conservative. To Chopin's contemporaries, they seemed to come from nowhere, like a bolt of lightning. A soundscape as blindingly intense as the F-sharp minor Prelude still seems more like the music of another planet (to borrow a comment from Arrau about Debussy). Is it not appropriate, then, for Argerich to play them with the appropriate extremes of volume, of tempo, of warmth and coolness?

Yes, I'm biased. Yes, there are some wrong notes in the B-flat minor Prelude (which certainly don't detract from the seemingly infinite power displayed) and there a few other places where newer editions, the Jan Ekier in particular, have made Chopin's intentions more clear. But the combination of burning, passionate music and burning, passionate pianist is unmatched. When it stops thrilling me, then I'll know I'm dead.

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Little attention to detail and nuance

I don't know why Argerich is so adored. Playing everything fast and loud doesn't constitute a great performance. I know the Chopin Preludes inside and out, and although Argerich has a nice intuition and a sense of passion, she pays little attention to the details and nuances that are so superb in Chopin. It seems that she was so eager to display technical mastery that the poetic sensibilities of the music are lost.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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Tracks
24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 1 C-dur: Agitato | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 2 a-moll: Lento | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 3 G-dur: Vivace | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 4 e-moll: Largo | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 5 D-dur: Allegro molto | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 6 h-moll: Lento assai | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 7 A-dur: Andantino | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 8 fis-moll: Molto agitato | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 9 E-dur: Largo | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 10 cis-moll: Allegro molto | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 11 H-dur: Vivace | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 12 gis-moll: Presto | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 13 Fis-dur: Lento | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 14 es-moll: Allegro | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 15 Des-dur: Sostenuto | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 16 b-moll: Presto con fuoco | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 17 As-dur: Allegretto | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 18 f-moll: Allegro molto | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 19 Es-dur: Vivace | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 20 c-moll: Largo | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 21 B-dur: Cantabile | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 22 g-moll: Molto agitato | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 23 F-dur: Moderato | 24 Preludes Op. 28: No. 24 d-mall: Allegro appassionato | Prelude cis-moll Op. 45: Sostenuto | Prelude As-dur Op. post.: Presto | Mazurkas Op. 59: No. 1 a-moll: Moderato | Mazurkas Op. 59: No. 2 As-dur: Allegretto | Mazurkas Op. 59: No. 3 fis-moll: Vivace | Scherzo cis-moll Op. 39: Presto con fuoco

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