mjzee Posted April 8, 2015 Report Share Posted April 8, 2015 Curious about the opinions of our esteemed listeners here about Martha Argerich. Liked? Disliked? Strengths? Weaknesses? Accurate? Exuberant? Place in the pantheon? Best performances? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomsMobley Posted April 8, 2015 Report Share Posted April 8, 2015 MUCH better than most 'star' pianists of her generation & after, her perspicacity reflected in relative modest discography, repertoire could/should have been (much) more venturesome in both 19th/20th c. esp. since she won Busoni competition, didn't even record Villa-Lobos 11, a goddamn shame, still her late period chamber programmes etc estimable within bounds, her Ravel & Prokofiev are ace, etc... whether you need want the same goddamn few handfuls of works as ten jillion saps perform/record... i dunno. Certainly any Argerich is better than all Perahia (say) but when there's so much else to learn... strength: beat cancer. weakness: repertoire. Christina Ortiz / John Neschling Argerich / Previn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinmce Posted April 8, 2015 Report Share Posted April 8, 2015 I'm not remotely versed in classical music, but I find her 1965 Chopin recital to be one of the most beautiful recordings I've ever heard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnblitweiler Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 My experience is limited, but I used to really enjoy 2 of her LPs of Chopin pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjzee Posted April 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 The only Argerich I have is an LP of Chopin piano sonatas #2 & 3; very nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Friedman Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 I have a number of recordings by Argerich. Some of my favorites include. Mozart Piano Concerto No.18 with Jochum. Chopin - The legendary 1965 recordings Chopin - 26 Preludes, etc Bach - Toccata BWV 911, Partita No.2, English Suite Her playing is often fiery and captivting and has excellent technique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiRiIII Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 (edited) Speaking of concerti, she is unique with Prokofiev's 1st and 3rd piano concerti (the former with ex-husband Dutoit, the latter with Abbado or Dutoit), Ravel's one in G (her peak with Abbado), her own favorite Schumann Piano concerto with Chailly in Leipzig (DVD or Blu-ray) and Rachmaninov's 3rd again with Chailly. Also the Tchaikovsky one with Kondrashin (Philips) is perhaps the best ever captured. Her Beethoven with Abbado are strangely heavy-handed and finally not interesting. However, the live experience of an Argerich concert is a formidable event to treasure. Unpredictable encores and finally a genuine feeling of real music-making. She once proposed to perform Rachmaninov's 3rd at the ancient Roman Theatre below Acropolis and the Parthenon, but her fee could not be met by the promoters. A shame. In her latest 3-day residency in Athens as Argerich and Friends, she offered her fees to the upaid - due to Greece's financial collapse - musicians of the Athens Camerata orchestra (renamed as Armonia Atenea when they play with period instruments - they have recorded various praised CDs under George Petrou for Decca lately). What a personality! Edited April 9, 2015 by Alexandros Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 Sure don't want to fall into the tired old and almost always false "lets the music speak for itself" bag, but despite her digital brilliance and abundant musical insights, almost every Argerich performance I've heard has seemed to me to be more about Argerich than about the piece she is playing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 I have a few of hers and like them. An interesting woman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 Sure don't want to fall into the tired old and almost always false "lets the music speak for itself" bag, but despite her digital brilliance and abundant musical insights, almost every Argerich performance I've heard has seemed to me to be more about Argerich than about the piece she is playing. Not exactly well-versed in her output, but the one thing I remember as being almost obnoxiously like this is a disc of her playing some Shostakovich thing for piano and brass quintet(?) and I recall getting really pissed off, not just because the music itself was so slight, but because she was going out of her way to con me into thinking otherwise, and, please, don't do that. OTOH, she's ahd a long career, and the earlier things of hers that I've heard have really worked in that "heroic" way that was "how you did it" then, and hey, can't fault a winner for winning when they play the game the way it's expected to be played, ya' know? I could handle a little more vulnerability/introspection/whatever myself, but I was not now nor ever will be the audience that "matters" for this stuff. But that Shostakovich thing, gotDAMN did I want to smack me some innocent bystanders the longer I listened to that thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjzee Posted April 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 This is also on my list of things to someday watch. As an Amazon reviewer put it: "This is an excellent documentary that offers a rare glimpse into the private life of an artist infamous for avoiding the spotlight - indeed, the "Argerich mystique" has probably helped make her extraordinary playing all the more intriguing. Listen to her recording of Prokofiev's 3rd Piano Concerto, or watch one of her performances; one can't help but seek to learn more about her. In this intimate documentary emerges a deeply private account that could have only been made by her daughter. It is a complicated story of a daughter seeking to learn more about a mother who is in some ways as mysterious to her own family as she is to her fans. We see Argerich - an invincible giant of the piano - at her most vulnerable moments: backstage, pacing nervously before a performance, outside her daughter's hospital room and in the privacy of her home. This film reveals what is likely true about all great artists: they are most happy, they are the most comfortable, when deeply immersed in their craft." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 Much to be preferred IMO to Argerich in Prokofiev No. 3 is Van Cliburn: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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