Chopin Argerich

For over 40 years Martha Argerich's recordings on Deutsche Grammophon have remained in the catalog and many are still best sellers. This 8-CD collection presents re-issues of eight solo LP recitals made between 1960 and 1983. The recordings have been remastered and are presented in chronological order, as originally programmed, with the original LP cover art on the individual sleeves. In addition, a booklet with new program notes and rare photos is included with the set. These performances are essential listening and constitute some of the greatest recordings of solo piano music available. (Source: amazon.com)

This disc contains performances from Argerich at her most volatile and inspirational. The Preludes and the Scherzo dates from the 1970s and the remainder of the disc date from the 1960s. The whole program has been remastered and the sound thus achieved is no cause for concern. The performances themselves are from a time when Argerich was still in her youth and they give no quarter in terms of being emotionally super-charged. In the hands of lesser pianists some may describe these types of interpretations as impetuous but that suggests a lack of previous thought. In this case these performances, which are certainly emotionally driven and at white heat, betray no such casualness. Instead the impression gained is that of intense emotionalism intensely controlled.

Martha Argerich has few peers in this repertoire today, and in terms of sheer spontaneity in performance she's simply in a class of her own. Chopin's concertos are early works, and they always have taken their share of abuse owing to the composer's somewhat clunky orchestration. Of course, no one ever has had anything to say against the piano part, which is marvelous and which dominates the proceedings to the point where the orchestra is pretty irrelevant anyway. What makes these performances so special is that Dutoit not only stays in the background, where he belongs, but actually manages to offer the kind of intimate support that allows Argerich to literally do whatever she wants. (David Hurwitz, classicstoday.com)

There has never been a more exciting pianist that Martha Argerich. Throughout her career, any appearance by her guarantees sellout crowds and an evening of memorable, not to say insane, music making. She has always drastically limited her repertoire about a dozen concertos, a few more solo and chamber works and will not perform or record solo recitals at all any more. But every single thing that she has recorded is a prime recommendation, plain and simple. She's one of the very few artists whose recordings one should collect just because of whom she is: unique and incomparable. These two concertos perfectly illustrate her gifts as an interpreter. Your ears will be glued to your speakers.

Martha Argerich´s associations with violinist Gidon Kremer and cellist Mischa Maisky are surely among the pianist’s most substantial and musically rewarding collaborations.

Martha Argerich's involvement with chamber music has dominated the later part of her career, so it's easy to think of her name with the words "and friends" tacked on, and to visualize the large and diverse retinue of famous musicians who have recorded with her. This triple-disc box set from EMI Classics presents live recordings from the 2010 Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano, several of them collaborations with Argerich, notably in works by Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, and Béla Bartók, as well as a performance of Frédéric Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, where she is the featured soloist with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana.

In celebration of Chopin’s 200th anniversary in 2010, here is the ultimate, complete, in particular priced 17-CD edition of the composer’s works, combining the very best recordings from the Deutsche Grammophon and Decca catalogs. Featured are some of the great Chopin interpreters of our time–Argerich, Pires, Pollini, Zimerman–with substantial contributions from particular pianists of the younger generation such as Rafał Blechacz and Yundi Li.