Argerich Warner

Martha Argerich has been described as “unquestionably one of the greatest pianists of all time”. She recorded a Chopin recital for EMI (now Warner Classics) in 1965, shortly after her victory in the prestigious Chopin Competition, but it only became available in 1999, when it appeared on CD. For Argerich's 75th birthday on 5 June, it finally sees its first release on LP, the format originally intended.

Argerich was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her paternal ancestors were Spaniards from Catalonia based in Buenos Aires since the 18th century. Her maternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire, who settled in Colonia Villa Clara in the Entre Ríos province, one of the colonies established by Baron de Hirsch and the Jewish Colonization Association. The provenance of the name Argerich is Catalonia.

A precocious child, Argerich began nursery aged two years and eight months, where she was the youngest child. A five-year-old boy, who was a friend, teased her that she would not be able to play the piano, and Argerich responded by playing perfectly, by ear, a piece their teacher played them. The teacher immediately called the mother and they "started making a fuss." She started learning the piano at the age of three. At the age of five, she moved to teacher Vincenzo Scaramuzza, who stressed to her the importance of lyricism and feeling. Argerich gave her debut concert in 1949 at the age of eight. The family moved to Europe in 1955, where Argerich studied with Friedrich Gulda in Austria, whom Argerich describes as one of her major influences. She later studied with Stefan Askenase and Maria Curcio. Argerich also seized opportunities for brief periods of coaching with Madeleine Lipatti (widow of Dinu Lipatti), Abbey Simon, and Nikita Magaloff. In 1957, at sixteen, she won both the Geneva International Music Competition and the Ferruccio Busoni International Competition within three weeks of each other. Following this success, Argerich had a personal and artistic crisis; she did not play the piano for three years and considered giving it up to train as a secretary or doctor. She credited Anny Askenase (the wife of Stefan Askenase) with encouraging her to return to the piano.

The newly released album "Martha Argerich - Great Piano Pieces" is a collection featuring Martha Argerich's performances of works by various composers. Known for her passionate and technically remarkable interpretations, this album showcases a range of classical piano pieces that highlight Argerich's virtuosity and expressive style. Released in 2024 under the Warner Classics label.

The box comprises all (live) recordings made by Martha Argerich at the Lugano Festival, from 2002 to the last edition in 2016, and released by EMI Classics and Warner Classics. An impressive collection of 22CDs without equivalent. ü It includes a variety of genres: some solo piano music, lots of music for piano duo and among them many arrangements, chamber works and concertos. ü The composers span the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, with Schumann, Mozart, Ravel, Beethoven, Rachmaninov, Brahms and Shostakovich being the most frequently performed. Among the artists appearing with Argerich on these recordings are: Stephen Kovacevich, Renaud Capuçon, Gautier Capuçon, Lilya Zilberstein, Mischa Maisky, Lyda Chen, Alexander Mogilevsky, Gabriela Montero, Yefim Bronfman, Maxim Vengerov, Gidon Kremer, Maria Joao Pires, Mauricio Vallina, Mikhail Pletnev, Alexander Vedernikov…

Devoted to Robert Schumann, this release includes Martha Argerich's iconic recording of the piano concerto conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the Scenes from Childhood, and many pieces of chamber music with high-ranking soloists, such as Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Nobuko Imai and Sergei Nakariakov.

Argerich was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her paternal ancestors were Spaniards from Catalonia based in Buenos Aires since the 18th century. Her maternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire, who settled in Colonia Villa Clara in the Entre Ríos province, one of the colonies established by Baron de Hirsch and the Jewish Colonization Association. The provenance of the name Argerich is Catalonia.

The newly released album "Martha Argerich - Great Piano Pieces" is a collection featuring Martha Argerich's performances of works by various composers. Known for her passionate and technically remarkable interpretations, this album showcases a range of classical piano pieces that highlight Argerich's virtuosity and expressive style. Released in 2024 under the Warner Classics label.