Only the greatest artists are able to maintain the freshness of discovery with the depth of thoughtfulness. Martha Argerich is one of them. From the beginning, she wasn’t a mechanic[al] virtuoso, only concerned with dexterity and speed. She mastered those as well, of course, but her fantasy enabled her to create a very unique quantity and quality of sounds on the piano.
– Daniel Barenboim on his close childhood friend Martha Argerich
Argerich is a genuine living legend of the classical music world. But she has never particularly tried to cultivate an image as one. Or at least, not in conventional terms.
The story of Martha Argerich is a story about ferocious natural genius. Argerich cannot help speaking music – internalising a score and performing it with such depth and range and emotion and risk-taking that even non-aficionados are left agog. She has a photographic memory, able to reproduce music perfectly after a single hearing. Schumann’s Toccata is supposed to be among the hardest pieces in the repertory; Argerich, who particularly adores Schumann, used it for years as a warm-up.
Reaching far beyond mere technique is the artistry that underlies each performance, making you feel you are hearing her largely familiar and selective repertory – Bach and Chopin, Prokofiev and Ravel – for the first time. – via blackswaneuroparedux.tumblr.com
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Tonight’s musical offerings:
Martha Argerich plays Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 in B-flat minor, Op.23
(if you can’t listen to the entire piece, the final movement, starting at the 26:20 mark, is magnificent, most especially with headphones on and volume cranked for maximum sensory enjoyment)
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Dispatches from the Asylum 