Readings that combine imagination, charisma, and incredible technique

classical music:


	• Chopin, Liszt: Piano Concertos / Martha Argerich, London Symphony Orchestra Frederic Chopin, Franz Liszt, ... Deutsche Grammophon, 1996 average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Amazing performance

Ms. Argerich plays with an energy and understanding of the music almost equal to that of Artur Rubinstein in his most captivating performances. She and the orchestra have a partnership that really give life and excitement to the music. If you do not have these performances, you will certainly have not experienced Ms. Argerich at her best.

Martha Argerich, A Woman Born To Play The Piano!

Argerich went to Europe when she was fourteen and worked with the great Freiedrich Gulda, Nikita Magaloff and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. Her playing can be undisciplined but is always creative and musically interesting. Let us now turn to the Chopin Piano Concerto written just before his twentieth birthday. Argerich's approach is definite and is performed with an unmistakable distillation of style. The playing displays an element of refreshing confidence, an emerging individuality unique to Argerich in which musical content and virtuosic technique are matched. As the performance moves on Argerich defines the harmonic outline, hardened and struck home meaningfully at every modulation; here melody was emboldened and enriched with the perfect fusion of line and embellishment which only Mozart before Chopin could equal. During the appearance of the first-subject material in C major, Argerich magically and beautifully expresses one of most brilliant events in the whole of the work. In the slow movement entitled Romance, Argerich maintains less dramatic contrasts but conveys the greater unity. Her continuous outpouring of melodically shaped phrases are as spontaneous and convincing as Chopin could have ever intended them to be. Argerich, in the rondo, convincingly establishes the themes subtle character with ambiguous accents whose rhythm is not always easy to identify with its shifts of emphasis. In the coda Argerich's use of poetic nuance allows this wonderful piece of piano writing to unfold, wholly consistent with the simultaneous creative work on the Studies, Op.10 and 25.
All Liszt's piano-concerto works are continuous, effectively one-movement structures. Argerich demonstrates his fascination with formal variety within the sonata and variation principles throughout her performance of his first. Due to the innate virtuosic temperament Argerich performs with, she is able to convey the important features both concertos have in common: both contain much thematic cross-reference between their sections; Argerich magnificently highlights the long stretches of delicate, chamber-like orchestration. She expansively incorporates the traditional layout of four symphonic movements in a brief span. In the succeeding development Argerich provides the necessary drama and bravura in the descending string figures of the opening Allegro maestoso. She then rapidly creates the nocturnal Quasi Adagio of Bellini-like ravishment and an Allegro vivace with a 'capriccioso scherzando' character. The finale contains no new themes, but much reflection of earlier ideas. This concerto has frequently been attacked due to an unfortunate tendency of playing it much too fast, however Argerich's performance is a model of dignity and delicate beauty.

Author: Raymond Vacchino M.Mus.(MT) A.Mus. L.R.S.M. Licentiate(honorary)

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My favorite pianist

Lately, I've been listening to a lot of great pianists: Solomon, Horowitz, Pogerelich, Rubenstein, Van Cliburn, Lupu.

I love Martha Argerich. She is more passionate and flexible with tempi, volume, etc., without it feeling like she's doing it just to be different, which I sometimes feel is true of Pogorelich.

She's great at Chopin (although for some things I prefer Rubenstein and for Beethoven, gimme Solomon (although he does tend to rush a bit.) For Schubert, I love Radu Lupu. But you'll never hear better Liszt and Ravel than from the great (and still sexy after all these years) Martha Argerich.

My single favorite performance of classical music is Argerich playing Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit--not on this album, but definitely available on Amazon.

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Argerich - the finest

Everything Martha Argerich does is outstanding. She is the female equivalent of Horowitz

Readings that combine imagination, charisma, and incredible technique

Is the ever comical David Hurwitz doing Argerich any good by saying that a more exciting pianist has never existed (has he heard Liszt in person)? Or that every one of her recordings is a prime recommendation (come now)? We get the idea that he likes the layd. These relatively early recordings of the Chopin and Liszt First Concertos are a pendant to her Prokofiev and Ravel with Abbado, two other brilliant recordings.

What makes me admire them is that neither work is first-rate, and both have achieved the status of tin-plated warhorses. Therefore, it takes something special to hold one's attetnion. Abbado's conducting is fine but not eye-opening. Ms. Argerich is a different matter: she plays with wonderful imagination and originality. There's barely a measure of music that doesn't sound new; she has the amazing ability to draw you into her own inner world, making you feel that you are eavesdropping on art in the making. Needless to say, all the essential flash and fire are also in place. Highly recommended

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reviews: page 1, 2

There has never been a more exciting pianist that Martha Argerich. Throughout her career, any appearance by her guarantees sellout crowds and an evening of memorable, not to say insane, music making. She has always drastically limited her repertoire--about a dozen concertos, a few more solo and chamber works--and will not perform or record solo recitals at all any more. But every single thing that she has recorded is a prime recommendation, plain and simple. She's one of the very few artists whose recordings one should collect just because of whom she is: unique and incomparable. These two concertos perfectly illustrate her gifts as an interpreter. Your ears will be glued to your speakers. --David Hurwitz

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Tracks
Concerto #1 in E minor: Allegro Maestoso | Concerto #1 in E minor: Romance, Larghetto | Concerto #1 in E minor: Rondo, Vivace | Concerto #1 in E flat:Allegro maestoso | Concerto #1 in E flat:Quasi Adagio | Concerto #1 in E flat:Allego marziate animato

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