Search - Martha Argerich :: Beethoven; Mozart: Martha Argerich - Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat major

The Fiery Ms. Argerich as Classicist

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 11/25/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Martha Argerich -- it's hard to believe that she's approaching seventy! -- has always been known as a fiery performer and her concerto appearances have typically focused on the big virtuoso works: Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Liszt, Chopin. She has never been deeply involved in the Classic Period concertos. Indeed, I don't think she has ever played all the Beethoven concerti and she's only played a handful of the Mozarts. So one might expect that the performances on this CD containing the Beethoven First and the Mozart No. 18 in B flat, K456, might be misshapen or sentimentalized. Not so. There is no mistaking Argerich's brilliant technique and her finely regulated tone, but at the same time she pays close attention to the conventions of the Classical concerto style. Possibly this is because her early teacher was Friedrich Gulda, who was a notable classicist. And one can also imagine that she is also conveying the teaching of her later teacher, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, whose way with the Classic repertoire was brilliant and lapidary. Whatever the case, one can hardly hear these performances without knowing that it is la Argerich playing, a joie de vivre that is immediately recognizable. 0



The Beethoven was recorded in 1983 with Seiji Ozawa conducting the Bavarian Radio Symphony (Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks) playing in the Residenz Herkulessaal in Munich. This is not big-boned Beethoven, as one might have expected, but it's not chocolate-box either. Argerich strikes a no-nonsense attitude that serves this concerto well. Sound is quite good, quite lifelike. The piano is in the forefront, as is common in piano concerto recordings, but not obtrusively so. I may actually prefer the recording of the live performance with Szymon Goldberg and the Concertgebouw from 1993 largely because Goldberg is more stylish than Ozawa. Still the present recording is worth having.



Argerich's dry-eyed, unschmaltzy yet widely inflected Mozart No. 18 was recorded in 1973 with Eugen Jochum leading the same orchestra, this time in Kaisersaal, Würzburg. It certainly sounds as if the orchestra is reduced to what we now consider Classical Era size and the sound is crystal clear even if slightly recessed with a rather prominently foreground piano sound. The quality of the piano sound in both recordings is quite good. I don't know of any other Argerich recordings of this concerto and for that reason alone it is recommendable.



Scott Morrison







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