Martha Argerich - Live From Lugano 2008
Argerich demonstrates her quicksilver musicianship in superb recitals
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Mikhail Pletnev, Sergey Rachmaninov, Astor Piazzolla, Robert Schumann, Dmitri Shostakovich, Camille Saint-Saëns, Anton Stepanovich Arensky, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Leoš Janáček, Maurice Ravel, Antonín Dvořák
Label: EMI
Magazine Review Date: 6/2009
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 0
Catalogue Number: 2670512
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Andante and Variations |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Martha Argerich, Piano Stephen Kovacevich, Piano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 |
Robert Schumann, Composer
Martha Argerich, Piano Renaud Capuçon, Violin Robert Schumann, Composer |
Piano Quintet |
Anton Stepanovich Arensky, Composer
Anton Stepanovich Arensky, Composer Dora Schwarzberg, Violin Lilya Zilberstein, Piano Lucia Hall, Violin Mark Drobinsky, Cello Nora Romanoff-Schwarzberg, Viola |
Scherzo |
Camille Saint-Saëns, Composer
Atsushi Sakai, Cello Camille Saint-Saëns, Composer Lilya Zilberstein, Piano |
Piano Trio No. 1 |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Alissa Margulis, Violin Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer Lily Maisky, Piano Mischa Maisky, Cello |
Suite No. 1, 'Fantaisie-tableaux' |
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Lilya Zilberstein, Piano Martha Argerich, Piano Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer |
Concertino |
Leoš Janáček, Composer
Alissa Margulis, Violin Corrado Giuffredi, Clarinet Leoš Janáček, Composer Lucia Hall, Violin Martha Argerich, Piano Nora Romanoff-Schwarzberg, Viola |
(16) Slavonic Dances, Movement: No. 1 in C |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
Antonín Dvořák, Composer Karin Lechner, Piano Lily Maisky, Piano |
(16) Slavonic Dances, Movement: No. 7 in C minor |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
Antonín Dvořák, Composer Karin Lechner, Piano Lily Maisky, Piano |
(16) Slavonic Dances, Movement: No. 2 in E minor |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
Antonín Dvořák, Composer Karin Lechner, Piano Lily Maisky, Piano |
(16) Slavonic Dances, Movement: No. 4 in D flat |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
Antonín Dvořák, Composer Karin Lechner, Piano Lily Maisky, Piano |
Tres Tangos |
Astor Piazzolla, Composer
Astor Piazzolla, Composer Martha Argerich, Piano |
Introduction and Allegro for flute, clarinet, harp |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Giorgia Tomassi, Piano Maurice Ravel, Composer |
(Las) Cuatro Estaciones porteñas, 'The Four Seasons' |
Astor Piazzolla, Composer
Alexandre Gurning, Piano Alissa Margulis, Violin Astor Piazzolla, Composer |
Fantasia elvetica |
Mikhail Pletnev, Composer
Alexander Mogilevsky, Piano Martha Argerich, Piano Mikhail Pletnev, Conductor Mikhail Pletnev, Composer Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana |
Composer or Director: Béla Bartók, Fritz Kreisler, Robert Schumann
Genre:
Chamber
Label: EMI Classics
Magazine Review Date: 6/2009
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
Stereo
Catalogue Number: 693399-2
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 |
Robert Schumann, Composer
Gidon Kremer, Violin Martha Argerich, Piano Robert Schumann, Composer |
Sonata for Solo Violin |
Béla Bartók, Composer
Béla Bartók, Composer Gidon Kremer, Violin Martha Argerich, Piano |
Kinderszenen |
Robert Schumann, Composer
Gidon Kremer, Violin Martha Argerich, Piano Robert Schumann, Composer |
Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 |
Béla Bartók, Composer
Béla Bartók, Composer Gidon Kremer, Violin Martha Argerich, Piano |
Liebesleid |
Fritz Kreisler, Composer
Fritz Kreisler, Composer Gidon Kremer, Violin Martha Argerich, Piano |
Schön Rosmarin |
Fritz Kreisler, Composer
Fritz Kreisler, Composer Gidon Kremer, Violin Martha Argerich, Piano |
Author: Rob Cowan
Both performances are riveting, and I suppose the two very different acoustics (Lugano is far airier) might have something to do with why Argerich projects so differently in each case. Still, when deciding which version to go for, potential purchasers are likely to view the two programming contexts as crucial. The Lugano set, the latest in series devoted to live recordings from the Festival, is full of memorable treats. It closes with a kaleidoscopic half-hour Fantasia elvetica by Mikhail Pletnev who also conducts the Svizzera Italiana Orchestra, his two piano soloists for the occasion Argerich and Alexander Mogilevsky. Although stylistically eclectic (Respighi, Sibelius, Saint- Saëns, Poulenc and Shchedrin all came to mind) the Fantasia is delightful: frothy, listener-friendly and packed full of cheeky tunes. Ravel’s two-piano transcription of his Introduction and Allegro (Giorgia Tomassi, Alessandro Stella) trades a delicate dreamscape for billowing virtuosity: the effect is rather like the piano version of “Une barque sur l’océan”. There are piano duets or twopiano works by Mozart (Andante and Variations, K501), Saint-Saëns (a rather equivocal-sounding Scherzo, Op 87), Rachmaninov (Suite No 1 with Argerich and Lilya Zilberstein) and dances by Piazzolla and DvoΣák. We’re also given Piazzolla’s Four Seasons arranged for piano trio. Argerich leads a tangy, rhythmically supple account of Janácek’s madcap Concertino, Lily and Mischa Maisky join violinist Alissa Margulis for Shostakovich’s 12-minute First Piano Trio (very much the world of the First Symphony) and Zilberstein is the pianist in Arensky’s richly romantic Piano Quintet in D. A sense of joy reigns throughout: this music-making could happily serve as a corrective whenever some half-hearted studio-bound session dampens your spirits.
The Berlin concert with Argerich and Kremer is equally gripping but quite different. Argerich goes solo for a typically quixotic account of Schumann’s Kinderszenen, each cameo following swiftly on the heels of the last, the style alert, playful, keenly attentive to inner voices and in the last two pieces appropriately poised. But for me the performances that make this Berlin concert absolutely indispensable are the two Bartók sonatas. The First Sonata’s agitated badinage reaches fever pitch in the finale where Kremer swings in on a glissando and the two go hell for leather as one racy folk-style motif follows another. The Sonata’s close is an absolute riot, so much so that the first encore, Kreisler’s Liebesleid, limps in like an innocent bystander mistakenly targeted in a fight. True, Schön Rosmarin picks up the spirit but even Kreisler’s charm cannot quite erase the recent memory of Bartók’s unrelenting onslaught. Even these artists’ commercial recording of the work (DG, 1/91R) is quite upstaged. And that isn’t the best of it. The first CD concludes with one of the finest ever recorded performances of Bartók’s Solo Sonata, Kremer calling on his full repertoire of violinistic devices which include, in addition to the many called for in the score, a mastery of tonal colouring and a rhythmic grip that at times seem to transcend the limitations of the instrument. Kremer doesn’t so much play as speak to you through the music and while his tone hasn’t the alluring sweetness of, say, a (young) Menuhin, the sheer electricity of his interpretation more than compensates. Not once does the tension even begin to ease. What an artist!
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