Argerich has not given a recital at a major venue for many years, so her solo offerings are of special value and a reminder of qualities that all lovers of magisterial musicianship and transcendental brilliance will cherish. But wherever you dip into EMI's embarras de richesses you will hear Argerich in all her mercurial and infinite variety.
As happy in the relative economy of Mozart as in the temperamental storms of the romantics, Argerich gives us Mozart's grandest concerto (for some his Emperor) in as radiant, vital and carefree a performance as any within living memory. Here, her relish and musical delight are almost palpable, her first entry in the Andante a gentle and magical call to attention, her finale a marvel of teasing and scintillating virtuosity, her response to Mozart's heart-easing subject at 3'32'' a no less remarkable instance of her poetic affection and flexibility. Heinz Wallberg may be a less positive or sympathetic partner than Szymon Goldberg, commencing Beethoven's First Concerto in a more solid than bracing or con brio fashion, but things lighten and intensify at Argerich's first entry. Again, she is as glorious in repose as in the summer lightning more often associated with her, and whether you marvel at her inwardness at 4'39'' in the Adagio, or at her airborne velocity in the finale (where, figuratively, her feet never touch the ground), you can only wonder at such nimbleness and engagement.
Argerich's Bach is of the most concentrated clarity and musicianship. In the Andante from the C minor Partita's opening Sinfonia she offers a memorably calm and poised reply to the Grave adagio, to its rhetorical breadth and grandeur. Indeed, her entire performance is as lucid as it is exploratory, surpassing even her superb 1979 DG studio recording of this Partita, 12/88. Her improvisatory flair in Chopin's most powerful and epic Nocturne is remarkable but, be warned, her performance of the Third Scherzo will have those of a gentle or nervous disposition reaching for their smelling salts or Beta-blockers - or, at least, retreating in awe and fear before the firestorm of her engulfing temperament. Conservatives will doubtless find her performance violent, excessive and ill-proportioned. But 'safety first' was never Argerich's maxim and the odd slip or telescoped phrase results more from a sense of Chopin's raging passions, of elemental fire and ice, than from a lack of concentration or stability.
Again, in the 20th century there is everything to provoke and astonish. Her opening to Prokofiev's Seventh Sonata is more flowing, less measured than usual, her way with the forte climax to the Andante caloroso more molto than poco agitato. Her blood is up, too, in the 7/8 precipitato finale; not for her Prokofiev's mezzo forte start but an instant, headlong charge into the fray. The 'Danza del gaucho matrero' from Ginastera's Danzas argentinas (which finds Argerich making a rare musical visit to her once home territory) is furiosamente e energico, yet there is still time for a mischievous sense of rhythmic interplay.
For encores there is more memorably fleet and vital Bach and Scarlatti's D minor Sonata, its thrumming guitar strikes articulated with a verve and ferocity that are pure, undiluted Argerich. The recordings vary but, overall, capture an extraordinary sense of occasion providing living proof, if proof were needed, that Martha Argerich's pianism and musicianship are unique in the annals of recreative genius. Applause is understandably retained between each item.
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