Schumann Argerich

The Beethoven Triple Concerto is a strange work, with the most important–-or at least prominent–-solos given to the cello; it is the instrument which introduces each movement. The remarkable Martha Argerich wisely allows Mischa Maisky to shine in his solos and leading position, but her contribution is anything but back seat. Her customary virtuosity is everywhere in evidence, and, in a way, she turns the piano into the spinal column of the work, with the violin and cello playing around her. Every time Maisky is about to lapse into a mannerism which might detract–-too much sliding, a dynamic slightly exaggerated–-Argerich brings him back, and both of them play with handsome tone. Capucon's violin is recorded a bit stridently (this was taped live in Lugano), but his playing is equally stunning. Alexandre Rabinovitch-Barakovsky leads the orchestra matter-of-factly until the final movement, when he catches the proper fire. In the Schumann A minor concerto Argerich is wonderful the solo passages and a fine partner in orchestrated ones and she really makes much of both the lyrical runs and the dance-like passages in the last movement. Recommended.

The TDK DVD is designed as a showcase for Martha Argerich, recorded live at La Rogue d’Anthéon Piano Festival, but although she dazzles in the coupled Prokofiev, she is very much part of a team in the Beethoven Triple Concerto and indeed in the expressive slow movement it is the cellist Gautier Capuçon whose solo remains in the memory. Alexandre Rabinovitch-Barakovsky, his hair flying, energetically directs vital accounts of the outer movements, with a spontaneous accelerando at the very end of the work…the camera involves the listener compellingly inside the music-making.

This box of Schumann's chamber works makes a superb package, and is often available at bargain price. It is a bit like one of Martha Argerich's box sets from Lugano, except that here she is present in a large number of the formations. All of the works where she features, including the Piano Quintet, the 2nd Violin Sonata and the Marchenbilder, are unmissable and full of passion and excitement, conveying a continuous sense of transport. Where she is not the pianist Alexandre Rabinovitch takes over at the keyboard and also gives us some superlative versions.

In 1823 Johann Georg Stauffer invented the arpeggione, a freak instrument, a hybrid of 'cello and guitar, with strings tuned in fourths. Schubert invested such attractive melodies in this queer contraption, he must have believed in its future. The melodies that float throughout the "Sonata for Arpeggione", are indeed attractive to say the least. The first point that strikes one in this performance is the clarity that cellist Mischa Maisky maintains.

All too often, chamber music collaborations between established, accomplished soloists do not yield favorable results. Merely putting together virtuosic musicians does not mean they will play well together. Such is not the case with this recording of Martha Argerich's 2006 festival in Lugano. This album represents an amazing synthesis of well-known artists, musicians just coming into their own fame, as well as compositions ranging from standard repertoire to rarely heard works. Argerich's decision to include violinist Renaud Capuçon and brother Gautier Capuçon was wise indeed, as their energetic and fiendishly virtuosic playing is nearly enough to carry the CD on its own.

When pianist Martha Argerich and violinist Renaud Capuçon gave a recital at the 2022 Aix-en-Provence Easter Festival, their extraordinary rapport was evident to all present. Captured live, their programme included three major works for violin and piano, all in the key of A: Schumann’s Sonata No. 1 Op. 105, Beethoven’s Sonata No. 9 Op. 47, “Kreutzer”, and Franck’s Sonata.

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.