Martha Argerich is an Argentine-Swiss classical concert pianist. She is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of all time.
Like her other duo-recording venture with pianist Alexandre Rabinovitch, this album again demonstrates why pianist Martha Argerich is the grand dame of two-piano works. This album, with pianist Nelson Freire, offers another interpretation of the Rachmaninoff Second Suite for Two Pianos as well as a transcription of Ravel's La Valse and Lutoslawski's Variations on a Theme of Paganini. Unlike many other piano duos, Argerich and Freire are capable of drawing an amazingly convincing, almost symphonic sound out of their two instruments.
Martha Argerich is an Argentine-Swiss classical concert pianist. She is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of all time.
Martha Argerich is an Argentine-Swiss classical concert pianist. She is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of all time.
Martha Argerich's reputation is secure. She will go down in history as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, touching everything she does with a scorching genius. And of her all-too-few recordings, this is one of the most celebrated: live performances of two of the great warhorses of the piano concerto repertoire, here transformed into the sleekest, most finely honed of racehorses. Tantalisingly, her Rachmaninov Third had to wait 13 years before it was issued, but when it finally arrived no one was in any doubt that it had been worth the wait. Its epic 45-minute span emerges here as a single stream of consciousness, with the finale as brilliantly explosive as you'll ever hear it.
I have many versions of this great concerto. My first ever exposure to this work was a recording by Witold Malcuzynski that I have now acquired on CD. Since the 1960s I have collected recordings by many great pianists including Bronfman, Glemser, Ashkenazy, Janis, Gilels, Vasary, Horowitz, Lympany, Gieseking, Helfgott, de Larrocha, Rachmaninoff, Wild, Kapell, Bolet, Argerich, Malcuzynski - and just when I thought I'd heard all the Rach 3 had to say, along comes this sublime recording by the late great Lazar Berman. The playing is clear, romantic, musically intelligent, exciting and enjoyable and satisfying in every way.
This is an excellent Rachmaninoff programme, taking us from the high romance of the relatively early Suite No. 1 to the composer’s last opus numbered work, the Symphonic Dances. The Suite No. 1 is a very fine work, and this duo plays gorgeously in that sighing third movement Les larmes. The spectacular finale, Pâques rings out spectacularly, the powerful tone of the well paired pianos delivering a remarkable listening experience.
A selection of lucid, intimate, and short-from Rachmaninoff works, interpreted with pinpoint technical precision.
Pianist Khatia Buniatishvili was signed to the Sony Classical label in her early 20s after a series of major competition prizes and began a top-level international career. She has said that some of her interpretations are influenced by Georgian folk music. Buniatishvili's international renown comes in large part from her recordings. She was signed to the Sony Classical label and released her debut album, Khatia Buniatishvili Plays Franz Liszt, in 2011. Her 2012 release, Chopin, won the Echo Klassik Young Artists' Award. Buniatishvili has remained on Sony's roster, recording mostly core virtuoso 19th and early 20th century repertory. In 2020, she released the recital Labyrinth, featuring an eclectic program ranging from Bach to Philip Glass and Serge Gainsbourg. Buniatishvili lives in Paris.