12/8/06 - Grammy nominations for Best Classical Album and for Chamber Music Performance - for "Martha Argerich and Friends: Live From the Lugano Festival 2005."
As mentioned before I don't think she has an interest in such things, but I'm sure the label does.
Also, thanks for corrections and additions being received for the concerts-schedule page (see previous entry).
12/6/06 - Have updated the concerts page. Please
let me know what I may have missed or send me corrections, either at the Argerich website-feedback group
or, if you don't like forums, you can use the guestbook.
12/4/06 - Solo recital portion did go as programmed, see feedback in the pianoforums.
I added today in December events an entry for the Vienna concert Dec. 6 and a link for the one on Dec. 9 in Zurich.
Also added March 1 concert at Carnegie (Philadelphia Orch) and linked to date change from March 7 to March 6
10/26/06 - Argerich in solo Schumann Kinderszenen during duo recitals with Gidon Kremer, per
a report from Willem Boone re program announced for the European tour in December '06. That's right. Little more than a month away. Programs are being printed.
Washington D.C. programs for Nov. 9-10 postponed These were to be with Mstislav Rostropovich who needs to stay in Europe due to medical tests needed by Rostropovich during this time.
They hope to reschedule these. Best health to Maestro Rostropovich ...
9/10/06 - Concerts page is updated for remainder of Yr2006, and in a couple of weeks I'll update Yr 2007. Thanks for your patience :-)
September concerts with Barenboim are not happening, and an October concert is also cancelled. After a trip to China and then to Warsaw, the playing schedule had been quite hectic.
8/24/06 - Upcoming concert announcements and reminders plus media info have recently been added to the webpage feedback forum. I won't be able to update the concerts webpage until mid October.
Contributors for this bunch (some are reminders as we near the concert time) are Paul Rah, Michael Wermich, chattlesticks,
Bjorn Ostlund, Jens Jacobsen, and Joanne Livni.
Also there are in-person reviews of some recent concerts,
posted by Charles Couineau, Willem Boone, Bjorn Ostland, and Tajima
Koji.
Joel Stein and pianofan64 point us to some amazing
video'd concerts, online (no longer available for purchase that we know
of), and wildenyster tells us that the limited Japanese version
of an Argerich & Friends DVD includes a bonus track of the
Ravel Piano Concerto with Dutoit not available in the edition
that most of us bought in the West. The link is given.
I'll eventually use some of this info for the page but the forum
will always be more up to date for announcements. The forum has two links
to Joseph Previte's forum for discussions, while the webpage feedback
forum group is primarily for announcements and alerts. Thanks to all
those providing information.
5/17/06 - Ferrara concert (May 18) is cancelled while a benefit
concert has been added for May 29, in Brussels, which will include both the Shostakovich PC #1 and the Schumann PC in a minor.
Details are linked at the website feedback forum. Thanks to
Piero Budinich and Colin Dietch for the information.
I'm unable to make changes to the website for another week,so the concerts page won't be updated for this yet.
4/26/06 - The River Plate Queen, by Ates Orga -
"a souvenir of a moment." Noted writer and record producer Ates Orga, who contributes regularly to International Piano and other music periodicals,
has offered us an article he wrote of an encounter, in 1978, with Martha Argerich and her interesting thoughts on music making.
I've included
some photos seen on the Net in various collections.
(Refresh or reload your browser screen if you've recently visited the articles page.)
Also, the concerts page has been updated.
3/13/06 - US concerts have been cancelled, on the advice of Martha Argerich's doctors.
Björn Östlund reports that the Los Angeles announcement said "She is recovering from surgery
and has been advised by her doctors not to travel."
Obviously, we all wish her the best and that the necessary rest will restore her to full energy and health.
3/1/06 - Updated the concerts page for 2006 dates. To remind me of any other concerts that should be included (or dropped), you can post on the webpage-feedback board or write me instead at andrys1 @ yahoo.com (remove the spaces before and after the "@" symbol). Thanks!
2/20/06 - GRAMMY Award. Martha Argerich was given the Grammy - (I'm posting this late)
for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with Orchestra)
Beethoven: Piano Cons. Nos. 2 & 3
Claudio Abbado, conductor; Martha Argerich (Mahler Chamber Orchestra) [Deutsche Grammophon]
2/18/06 - Argerich in Beppu - English pages (April 14-23) - This excellent news and translated site is now ready. Thanks to Tatsuo Kurita of the Beppu festival for the info. They did a beautiful job with the layout.
12/2/05 - December '05 Germany concerts postponed until March '06 due to an eye infection.
10/25/05 - update - Added Video of press interview with discouraged Argerich,
found by C.Cheng. It's about 3 minutes long and, even if you don't understand Spanish, it's interesting
in that her expressiveness at the piano is also seen in her verbal communication. Though mostly frustrated, saddened, etc., there are sudden attempts at wry humor. Very discouraging and the piano forum discussions explain the situation. Maria Hartung points us to an interesting article not online otherwise.
Argerich Festival affected badly by union difficulties - cancellations,
reprogramming as possible, etc. Reports of a discouraged Argerich and the usual incomprehensible automated-web-translations at the website yahoogroups.
[Earlier] In other news, Argerich has cancelled, for personal reasons, her jury participation in the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, and pianist Kang Choong-mo is taking her spot. His
quoted final sentence in the story doesn't bode well for utmost objectivity.
08/25/05 - Concert schedule page has been further updated with an added concert in Los Angeles, and details from the Argentina Festival and Tour, thanks
to many who've left info in the feedback forum so I could find them easily.
With people who take the time to report from around the world, it's much easier to do this. Will try to keep this more up to date in the future. Thanks to all for the help.
Note that the annual Martha Argerich Festival in Argentina begins Sept. 3. We look forward to Maria Hartung's detailed reports in the various Argerich forums, if she can get a seat. If not,
I don't imagine the festival will have the international audience that has been so interested in it the last few years and there won't be much here.
08/1/05 - Review and news from La Roque d' Antheron and Saratoga Springs.
Still way behind in updating websites...
06/7/05 - Cancellations, postponements, rescheduled dates posted for June/July.
Apparently, Martha Argerich has been sick for a few days and is therefore remaining in Japan, though it is not something to worry about, they say.
It's hoped that she will recuperate in time for the Lugano Festival.
05/16/05 - Two July events added to concert calendar.
04/15/05 - Verbier concerts, with Thomas Quasthoff
et al, have been cancelled, alas, for personal reasons. Info from Bjorn
Ostland and Paul Rah.
04/10/05 - Updated commercial recordings page, thanks to Philippe Marchal.
Updated only to Jan. '05 for now.
04/09/05 - Added Warsaw Chopin competition info and details for Lugano Festival.
04/04/05 - My brief summary and link to murky photos of the San Francisco duo-piano recital experience. Briefly, for me, Sound as Light. A kaleidoscope of sometimes electrifying, sometimes dreamlike sounds.
Entertaining reports, reviews (both coasts) are being added during this busy U.S. period (we don't get to hear her as often as Europeans - so this is a rare treat for U.S. folks).
04/02/05 - Gachot documentary: Newport Beach Film Festival showing of 70 minute version probably with English subtitles. This will be on April 25, at 1:00 pm.
Here's the film festival page.
04/02/05 - Concerts/Events page update - Have updated a bit. Please let me know at this webpage's feedback yahoogroup what others should be added. Thanks! I'm currently combing that area for future dates that were added there some time ago.
Have added reviews to that area from time to time.
03/13/05 - - Argerich's Meeting Point in Beppu 2005, new English webpage, given us by Tatsuo Kurita of Beppu in the guestbook. Tickets went on sale today, in fact.
(I haven't forgotten I must update site pages soon - life has been intervening.)a
3/8/05 - Martha Argerich's live
concert recordings as a child were released in Argentina (only) and are of course quite sought after. There are also other
otherwise unavailable later performances being released there.
Forum mainstay Maria Hartung, who lives in Argentina, has offered to get these
for Argerich enthusiasts at cost plus shipping & handling. Details:
Estudios Cosentino [for their label IRCO], Buenos Aires, Argentina,
released the set of CDs with historical recordings by MA... Anyone
interested should contact Maria at mhartung@fibertel.com.ar
regarding prices and shipping & handling costs. Please note that
methods of payment to Argentina are usually by Western Union as the
risky procedure of cash in envelopes is not recommended.
Friends could have one person buy several at one time to save costs.
There are plans for possible further releases during 2005 but no definite dates.
1/23/05 - Very-Brief videoclips of Beethoven PC1 and Mozart solo -
the Beethoven from a broadcast on January 16, 2005 of a concert given in November in Geneva and the
Mozart from a few nanoseconds on a piano in a house in 1972. Click on the little video icon next to the words "EMISSION du 16 janvier 2005" to see/hear the clip. There is a longish talk by someone in between the two excerpts.
Many thanks to Björn Östlund for this info. Also be sure not to miss
Björn's page detailing M's repertoire through the years.
11/16/04 - A newsgroup forum-report about Argerich in Athens last Sunday.
11/15/04 - Well, apologies!. I've been out of touch for almost 2 months and have not kept up with all the info sent.
And there's quite a bit. But not in any one place! If there is anything you feel is important to post on this website for others, either here or on the
Concerts page, please post it to the website-feedback/reports forum where others can read it
right away without wading through discussions to find it (and I can find it for inclusion here), or email me with the information. However, I have many projects I'm working on right now and it's easier
for me to update (when I can) by looking in one place (feedback-forum), as my email is a bit out of control. Again, this is just if you feel there is info that should be posted here for readers. Thanks for the help!
9/6/04 - Beethoven Piano Concerto 3 CD with Abbado
International release date Oct 25, 2004
9/5/04 - The commercially-offered recordings discography
has
been greatly updated, thanks (very much) to Philippe Marchal.
9/6/04 - Argerich Tour – Argentina 2004 - translation by Maria Elena Hartung, of an article submitted by Felipe Izcaray, Music Director of the Salta Symphony Orchestra
, with whom
Martha Argerich played Saturday, Sept. 4. Director Izcaray posted today a review of that concert written by By José Mario Carrer, who praised the performances of the Ravel Piano Concerto in G and the Prokofiev Piano Concerto #1, both played by Argerich (and preceded by a Rachmaninof PC 3 played by Gabriela Montero. Already, here is an English translation, by the amazing Maria Elena Hartung, of that review.
Although the now almost annual Argerich International festival in Argentina will take place Oct. 7-21, 2004, she has chosen three provinces for her pre-festival tour. Salta was the first, and will be followed by concerts in Entre Ríos and in Córdoba.
The Concerts page has been updated.
8/14/04 - DVD documentary on Nelson
Freire which also prominantly features Martha Argerich.
According to Marcel Bartnik, this is in all-region format and
NTSC. The link above (provided by Steve Emerson to RMCR newsgroup) is to a vendor who sells the DVD
worldwide. Here's a web-machine-translation of that vendor
page. Marcel also points us to the details of the DVD.
It's said to also include a bonus CD that includes
Freire's performance of the complete Rachmaninoff Concerto for
Piano and Orchestra No. 2, a performance much praised by many.
Here's a web-machine-translation of the details.
5/22/04 - Reports from Beppu Festival - from the busy BBS there, user and newspaper reviews, with information on performances, by Argerich, of New (and older) material. This information was placed in the guestbook by
Tatsuo Kurita, who instructs me to update this page! :-). (Thank you for the information.) On the BBS, the notes are put in text that is very hard to read on monitors with 800x600 resolution or better. To make this easier to read, you can highlight, edit, and copy the message text
for pasting to your editor or notepad to read more easily. It's a very interesting read and obviously a very successful festival.
4/4/04 - Update - SAN FRANCISCO performances this week Cancelled by Argerich, per report in the Argerich-music-website feedback forum, thanks to the info from
jcepiano where I could find it quickly for the website. Louis Lortie will replace her on the program. I've not heard what the news is for the rest of the U.S.
Today's Contra Costa Times explained "Argerich is suffering from bronchitis and is unable to travel."
4/6/04 - New recordings (Beethoven Triple Concerto)... with pre-order pricing at Crotchet, UK.
Also included is a 3-CD set of reissued material from EMI at a good price if you don't already have them. Certainly a cover I've not seen before.
3/31/04 - More concerts in the next months, sent us by Björn Östlund
who writes for the website concerts page that "Those who missed Ferrara
have another chance in Italy in June! On two occasions actually, in Bergamo on June 1 and in Brescia on June 4..."
The Beethoven Concerto No. 3 will be performed at the International Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Piano Festival, with Pier Carlo Orizio conducting.
A friend tells Björn that she will play the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 in Lausanne in Nov. 04.
Schumann and Ravel concertos in one night
in Denmark, March 2005, info brought us by well in advance by Anders Magelund
via the guestbook. A. Rabinovich will
conduct. Two days after that, the two will play 2-piano works by Brahms, Haydn, and Rachmaninoff.
3/23/04 - Reviews of Prokofiev 3rd in London the other night.
3/6/04 - DVD of Scriabin Promethus for (wild) piano and orchestra, and Promethus by other composers, under Abbado available at HMV-Japan.
Piano Concertos by Liszt (#1) and Ravel (in G) under Dutoit and the MSO (TOCE55628) - This includes the Liszt Concerto Pathetique for 2 pianos, with Nelson Freire
Note that overseas or int'l delivery from Japan is by FedEx, which is fairly costly.
3/4/04 - More concert/event updates, including a screening of the Gachot documentary in Minneapolis/St. Paul in April,
an extra concert with Nelson Freire in Paris on May 28th, and a few April 2005 Beethoven PC 1 concerts with Dutoit scheduled in Philadelphia.
3/2/04 - Concerts-page update for Lugano Festival programs, thanks to Björn Östlund.
2/29/04 - April 3, 2005 duo recital with Nelson Freire in San Francisco announced by the symphony association there
and added to the Concerts page.
Also, as noted below, added another rough translation to the website feedback/reviews board. All are encouraged to refine any of the rough translations they find there or post an English translation of
reviews they've enjoyed from their country.
2/22/04 - Forum activity. The website-feedback-archives yahoogroup ("argerich") contains some rough translations of reviews for this and that. This includes the Beethoven Concerto No. 3 which Martha Argerich DID play the other night with Claudio Abbado 
. You will, as always,
find more detailed and colorful in-person reports on Joseph Previte's yahoogroup ("martha_argerich"). See the piano-forums section for how to get to these.
2/20/04 - Translation, by Willem Boone, of the February '04 Le Monde interview available only in French until now. This is an unusually candid and illuminating talk that answers some often asked questions. Many thanks to Willem for the
translation work as well as to Philippe Marchal for the excellent scans. Later on, larger scans will be added in original French if that is okay with Le Monde.
2/19/04 - Verbier 2004 - a feast of events
These include a Bach concerto for piano and orchestra, a set of Ravel songs with Thomas Quasthoff, and the Beethoven Quartet No. 3 in C
2/9/04 - Update. Added two new links for this sent by Björn Östlund today.
MAYBE: Beethoven Piano Concerto 3 at Ferrara Feb. 20 is *shown* in the current Italian program-listings; BUT it's
*not shown* in the latest English version of that site, but IS showing on the Italian version of the Abbado homepage. The info that it would happen at all came from Marcel Bartnik
who offers some info he read in the classical magazine "Le Monde de la Musique" which has an extensive interview with Argerich.
The music-items include plans to record the Beethoven 3rd piano concerto with Abbado and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (Hywel David reports this would be happening with DG) and
plans to play Beethoven's 5th piano concerto in Japan 2005 ("(concerto à l´hommage de Gulda"). While she did work on the Brahms 2nd piano concerto with Gulda, she's never performed it, though she did play the Brahms 3rd piano sonata briefly. The Beethoven triple concerto from Lugano last year will be released on CD. The series "Martha Argerich Presents..." will soon include CDs by
Sergio Timeo and Gabriela Montero, as well as Alexander Gurning and Polina Leschenko.
2/1/04 - Concert-page updates, for Lugano Festival, Tanglewood, and Madrid, thanks to Björn Östlund and Karen Hagberg, who posted the information to the webpage-feedback board and to Gonzalo Benítez Aguilar for the Madrid details.
1/31/04 - Update - Imminent CD releases new dates reported by Björn Östlund:
Live recording with Maisky in Brussels, April 20, 2003 and Prokofiev-Pletnev Cinderella Suite with Pletnev, recorded at Théâtre de Vevey, Vevey 08/2003.
This shows a July 2004 release date for the CD with Pletnev, which will be an SACD-hybrid release..
1/21/04 - Confirmation that the Argerich's Meeting Point festival in Beppu 2004, sixth in a
series, will be held May 5 to 16, according to organizers today.
1/10/04 - Audio samples from new recordings due, most needing Real Player:
(A linked Schumann excerpt was apparently a feature-of-the-day link and has been changed so I removed it.)
Charles Coineau found that DG now is more aggressively
promoting the Brahms Quartet/Schumann Fantasiestücke, op. 88 recording. At the right on that page is a picklist from which you can choose to get video from the 1st
and 4th mvmts of the Brahms. At the left are links to info on the recording sessions, etc., such as "Argerich, Kremer, Bashmet and Maisky in the Recording Studio
Summit Meeting in Berlin," other interesting text and what looks to have been an enforced photo session when the performers wanted to go eat and relax instead.
The last link on the left is to audio excerpts from each movement of the Brahms and Schumann works.
1/7/04 - Sept '04 duo recitals with Nelson Freire in Brazil added to concerts page. Thanks to Thomas Kosfeld for the advance notice.
12/31/03 - New recordings announced at HMV Japan:
(1) Chopin PC 1 with Dutoit and Montreal Symphony, Chopin Sonata 3 - release date 2/25/2004, TOCE59747;
(2) Liszt PC 1 and Ravel(in G I presume) with Dutoit and Montreal Symphony - release date 2/25/2004, TOCE55628;
(3) 2CD-set on RCA 74321.98836, already listed earlier in the several discographies.
*Also available at Amazon-US*, this set holds the quite wonderful Beethoven Concerto No. 2 and Haydn Concerto No. 11 in D with Argerich directing the London Sinfonietta, and it also has the Schumann Fantasie and Fantasiestucke (alone it was a favorite solo recording of mine), and the violin sonatas of Franck
and Debussy recorded in the late 70s with Gitlis.
Thanks to Kevin Bee and Joseph Previte for this information!
See Recommended CD detail here and here (with reviews) for the 2-CD set's material.
12/30/03 - PBS will broadcast the Verbier Birthday celebration - watch that link for the dates. It includes that Bach!
12/7/03 - Dec. 31 appearance in Berlin has been announced at the German Deutsche Grammophon website, per
a post by Jan Schlotthus on the website's feedback or announcement forum. Thanks, Jan. If anyone has more information, let us know. At this point, the DeutscheOper webpage has only an opera event.
11/19/03 - Fixed my coding bugs in the Available
Recordings Discography which was VASTLY updated with much
needed info and detail by Philippe Marchal. Many thanks! This is
actually an overhaul.
11/19/03 - The Yedang Classics CD of Franck Sonata in A performed in Moscow (1989) by Argerich and Kramer is now available to U.S. buyers.
Thanks once more to Björn Östlund for good information. Note that you can hear long excerpts, in very poor online sound, before deciding. Be sure to hear the very beautiful slow movement that is the THIRD cut ('Track 10') in the audio offered Strangely, they separate the movements, by Gidon Kremer's solo pieces, for the samples. Also, Argerich's name is barely visible. rbcmp3.com is apparently the largest Russian music/video store in the U.S. and offers free shipping anywhere in the states, usually (they say) within 24 hours.
Also there is a new CD set that's been getting high recommendations -- Van Cliburn's actual Moscow performance of the Rachmaninoff 3rd piano concerto, from the famous Tchaikovsky Competition he won in 1958.
This has not been released on CD until now (was on LP long ago), and is said (on the Usenet newsgroups) to be quite electric and a demonstration of why he won. Apparently, it had quite an effect on jurist Sviatoslav Richter. Kondrashin conducts. I understand it's not readily available elsewhere.
For those living in Asia, or at least Korea, a better place to buy the Yedang disc is Yedang's site, in Korea.
Björn had reminded me on the feedback forum that this disc IS available and should be listed in the discography. That's added now.
Yedang Classics section has many discs (material usually from live performances) with music by Richter, Gilels, et al. 3 pages accessible from any page and then click on 4th "( )" to get subsequent classical catalog pages.
11/18/03 - Three December concerts with 2 concertos each have been added, thanks to info from David (Bommertz?) on the web-feedback forum.
Also, an EMI staffer reports unofficially on the martha_argerich forum that she has recorded the Ravel Concerto anew but has not approved release yet because she may want to add another Ravel piece!
11/11/03 - Article on
the documentary film portrait of Nelson Freire (I've
linked to a very primitive online-machine-translation into English). This includes a photo gallery with
wonderfully relaxed photos of Freire and Argerich in their homes and at the piano. To get each next
picture, click on the current picture displayed (unusual method).
Thanks to Björn Östlund, our main resource these days!
The site encourages direct emailing of pictures via their website,
which then builds a database of email addresses interested in the
content.
You can start the entire Nelson Freire photo gallery here.
11/09/03 Update - The Brahms Quartet Op. 25 on DG 4637002 though not readily available yet, but Björn Östlund and Marcel Bartnik have been able to by this from
HMV-Japan where it was released Oct. 8 under their catalog #UCCG1121. Björn adds that this is a studio recording
from Teldex Studio Berlin 2/2002. To his knowledge, she played it in Verbier 2001 only.
It's also shown at Amazon-UK - but is listed as "Not yet published" though.
Thanks to Björn Östlund's putting a message
on the website-feedback board, I was able to find the discography-info when I had time to update the site, so the Brahms/Schumann chamber music info is finally included on the studio-recordings discography page. I also saw that the excellent, though short, video clips from the sessions are still online, though rather hard to find.
Also, sometimes when you click on the video-links in that
newsletter at Deutsche Grammophon, the play-video links don't
work, so I've added the direct links to the movements (1 and
4) (in excellent sound). On her artist page, they state they have no
multimedia clips for her, so they probably plan to remove them soon. Why they don't make a DVD from these sessions is beyond me.
10/25/03 - A request for help
with info for the official-recordings discography is at the
website feedback page. Any help is appreciated with
putting info there that I can easily find to update more quickly
the official-recordings discography and concert/events page. You can choose "No Mail"
or "Special Announcements"-only membership. Thanks!
10/14/03 - Made it to Japan, as pointed out by Dennis Chang today, and with a new outfit too :-)
9/6/03 - Concerts/events page updated with info from Julien Hernandez and Marcel Bartnik for October '03 and May '04. Marcel also adds info for a Freire solo recital in Paris in January.
9/6/03 - The Videos page has been updated, for sources, availability info. There is also a somewhat expanded section on other pianists' videos. If interested in searching for particular pianists, using varied sources, you can also use the Video searchbox on my FindClassical page.
8/24/03 - Saratoga Chamber Music Festival review. If reading this webpage after the artlcle goes offline, you will be able to read it after the fact at the Argerich Music website-forum archives of news articles (recently begun).
8/21/03 - Charming online videos of Argerich and Delgado in 2-piano pieces by Guastavino, found by intrepid web researcher Björn Östlund.
These were video'd at the festival in Argentina in 2001.
While I find the "Las Ninas" piece more interesting than "Baile," the latter has a wonderful lesson on voicing melodic lines, interpretation, in the three or so melodic phrases that end this piece.
Don't miss, on the same page, Eduardo Delgado's truly wonderful Gluck/Sgambati – 'Melodie de Orfeo' - with its beautifully spun legato in the right hand over the left-hand figures. This is very difficult to pull off but he certainly does.
Besides a Schumann on that page, there's an audio page with a Ginastera sample from his highly regarded Ginastera CD. Captivating Milonga.
8/16/03 - Another article re August 21 'impromptu' program
"The concert will include a piece by Schnittke titled, 'Homage to Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich' for piano six hands (that's three two-handed pianists at one instrument), to be performed by the formidable Martha Argerich and two as yet unnamed pianists.
Also, Argerich and Alexander Gurning will play the Prokofiev's 'Cinderella Suite' for two pianos."
Earlier article on the festival that mentions Aug 21 program.
Earlier feature article mentioned "... program at 8:15 p.m. Aug. 19, [Argerich] playing a solo piece by Ravel, and in Bartok's Sonata for two pianos and percussion." [No solo piece by M, despite article.]
And noted in July: Dutoit on his new life and on Argerich's participation in Saratoga Chamber Music Festival after some recent trying times. It also reiterates the plans to play in Australia after festival in Argenina this year.
Some current but aging articles will be archived from now on at the website yahoogroup).
8/16/03 - An Andante.Com review of the Lugano Festival
notable for the following statements by and about Martha Argerich's focus:
"To help talented young artists and make them known is an essential part of my job . Unfortunately, the musical establishment is too often phlegmatic and disinclined to take any risks."
'Carlo Piccardi, a top executive of RTSI and the coordinator of the organizing committee, further explained the project's philosophy:
"Martha Argerich has placed chamber music at the center of this project. The principle of equality among partners that this music embodies requires performers to devote themselves to real ensemble playing, as opposed to standing out in the brazen way that playing solos with an orchestra often encourages them to adopt." '
8/12/03 update - Verbier Festival
Birthday Concert - reviews. In case there are problems accessing the first one, I posted the text to the Great-Pianists yahoogroups forum, since
it involves a host of other pianists, at message 23436, and there've been more reviews since. The NY
Times had an even better review of it, which would stay up only a short time, so I've posted that one at great-pianists group also, at message 23460.
Other reviews posted are from Boston Globe, Time magazine, plus an entertaining one by Michael Church for The Independent.
Fantastic assortment of pianists & other musicians in one place each year at Verbier. It seems they are filming for PBS
"Great Performances" the 4-piano Bach raved over now by two reviews. If you are newly joining the great-pianists
forum, sometimes interested in news about more than one pianist but not interested in getting messages by e-mail, go to this page and change your membership to "No Mail" so
that you read the group's webpage-messages only when interested.
8/9/03 - Julien Hernandez reports October details for Japan concerts. Note that a SOLO Ginastera Danzas by Argerich is scheduled for a charity concert on Oct. 14 at Suntory Hall. Thanks for the latest update, Julien.
7/12/03 - With special thanks to Björn Östlund, we have a much more up-to-date Argerich Discography (items available at one time or another in stores) after a long drought.
And Björn has some other interesting news soon, either here or at his own site.
Don't, of course, miss the more all-encompassing discography in Japan pointed to at the discography page.
6/11/03 - Lugano Festival 2003 audio already going up - Thanks to Scarbo for this.
Several have pointed to the Arensky, June 7, by pianist Polina Leschenko, with Renaud Capuçon and Gautier Capuçon (all superb).
My attention has wandered off to too many other areas, so I've not kept this site up to date.
Apologies for that. The concert page is now well of out of date. Bjorn has offered to help, and when I can I'll update things.
But you can always keep up with events by attending Dr. Joseph Previte's Martha_Argerich forum.
5/23/03 - Guardian CD review of Brahms: Sonata for Two Pianos Op 34b; Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No 1: Argerich/ Zilberstein/ Capuçon.
The number of stars alloted the disc vs the review content indicates it lost points for not ideal sound.
5/22/03 - Matthew Moss writes in our guestbook about an unscheduled Argerich recital with Lilya Zilberstein May 23 that will replace
one that was to be given by Radu Lupu. (error in my date yesterday! - will look for reviews)
5/22/03 update - Daily Yomiuri story about Beppu.
4/8/03 update - The Martha Argerich, Evening Talks film by Georges Gachot will be shown at the following film festivals:
New York - Swiss American Film Festival, April 26, 2003 (8pm) (English subtitles).
This will be the U.S. premiere, at the Anthology Film Archives in New York
(32 2nd Avenue, 212-505-5181), and Gachot will be there to present the film that Saturday.
- there's really no real information on the site itself for NY. Try writing their Info address.
Buenos Aires - Buenos Aires Int'l Independent Film Festival (BAFICI), shown 4/17, 4/18, 4/20.
First showing: Thursday 4/17, 7:00PM at Hoyts 8, presented by Gachot.
Other showings: Friday, 4/18, 6:30PM at Hoyts 8; Sunday 4/20, 11:00PM at Hoyts 8.
All screenings are at the Shopping Mall known as Abasto, Corrientes 3200
3/30/03 update - In January, the Concerts page was updated with information from Björn Östlund, William Hsieh, and Chun Dong Hyek about concert or festival plans in June (Lugano), July (Verbier) and October (Japan). I updated these again this weekend.
Gonzalo Benítez Aguilar and Björn Östlund added (in the Martha_Argerich forum) that EMI will be releasing some excellent chamber music from the Lugano Festival 2002, with Argerich playing Brahms Sonata for two pianos Op.34b (with Lilya Zilberstein); Beethoven Clarinet Trio (with Marek Denemark, clarinet, and Mark Drobinskij, cello);
Mendelssohn Trio no. 1 in D Minor (fabulous, with Renaud Capuçon, violin and Gautier Capuçon, cello).
Also on the CD will be the Mozart: Quartet in g Minor (Evghenij Brakhman is the pianist for this one).
These and many other pieces played at the festival can be heard in full -- in less than CD sound, of
course (but good sound) -- at the links above, on the Lugano
Festival site, including:
Prokofiev Cinderella: Suite from the Ballet, Op. 87, transcribed for two
pianos by Mikhail Pletnev,
the World Premiere, played by Argerich and Pletnev
In other chamber music (rare chance to hear these in their entirety played so well),
don't miss such pieces as
the Rachmaninov Sonata in g minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 19
with Gautier Capuçon, cello and Lilya Zilberstein, piano
the Dvorak Quartet in Eb Major for Piano, Violin, Viola and Cello, Op. 87 with pianist Walter Delahunt,
Renaud Capuçon, violin, Gautier Capuçon cello, and Lida Chen, viola,
not to mention Argerich in the Schumann Quintet and the many other works offered.
To hear these, you may need to update your (free-version) RealAudio Player software. To do that, click on the applicable operating systems:
PC-Windows (right-hand side for Free version) Macintosh Unix
If you find a newer QuickTime is needed as well, get it here.
3/29/03 update - The Saratoga Festival program is online. Martha Argerich is listed as a special guest for chamber music on August 19 and will also play on August 21.
On the "Philadelphia Orchestra" pages there
, she is slated to play the Prokofiev 3rd on August 14 and the Ravel Concerto in G on the 20th, Dutoit conducting.
According to FrenchCulture.Org, she is scheduled to play (earlier in the week) the Poulenc Piano Concerto for 2 pianos (this would be a feat for one person) as well as the Ravel Concerto in G, under Charles Dutoit, but this information conflicts with the Saratoga online program.
3/29/03 update - Verbier Festival in July program has been received by several, who report that Argerich is scheduled to play the Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue on July 31. Hearing is believing
The Verbier 10th birthday extravaganza will feature several big-name pianists, including Argerich, in music for 4 to 16 hands and 1-8 pianos, July 22nd, with orchestra (sold out, of course).
Also on the books for Argerich is the Schumann Quartet for piano, violin, viola, and cello on the 25th, a night with a lineup of major players, sold out also.
3/29/03 - Beppu Festival program for May 2003.
More details are on this page.
(The actual Beppu page is in Japanese, for the most part, this year.)
3/4/03 - There have been several changes and additions to the concert schedule.
2/20/03 - February's appearances have had to be cancelled .
1/11/03 - The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Argerich (not unexpectedly) has cancelled the Chicago performances Jan. 16-18.
1/6/03 - The Minnesota Orchestra's box office is telling callers that Martha Argerich's scheduled concerts with Minnesota Orchestra will not take place. They are substituting an all-orchestral program.
12/27/02 - Updated concerts-page. Please let me know of any others feel should be added.
Le Monde de la Musique has another cover issue. Not sure that choosing to buy the December issue gets you the right magazine.
For OLDER NEWS, *click* here.
Includes more recent CD releases.
The "Brilliant Classics" label's "Great Pianists of the [20th] Century" - a 5-cd set ($9 to $19 depending on where you buy it) which includes two Argerich contributions recorded at the Busoni Competition, which she won at the age of 16 (when she also won the Geneva competition), along with the following:
Horowitz, Rachmaninov, Rubinstein, Lhevinne, Cortot, Godowsky, Moiseiwitsch, Solomon, Friedman (Ignaz),
Lamond (Frederic), Sofronitzki, Lipatti, Schnabel, Gilels, Arrau, Gieseking, Richter, Michelangeli, Wild, Brendel, Lugansky (Nikolai)
For more detail, newsgroup feedback, and links, see the Multi-artist recordings page.
10/28/05 update - 
3/8/05 - Martha Argerich's live
concert recordings as a child
