Frédéric Chopin - Piano Concertos (Martha Argerich)

Information

Composer: Frédéric Chopin

1. Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11: I. Allegro maestoso
2. Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11: II. Romanze. Larghetto
3. Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11: III. Rondo. Vivace
4. Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21: I. Maestoso
5. Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21: II. Larghetto
6. Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21: III. Allegro vivace

Martha Argerich, piano
Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal
Charles Dutoit, conductor

Date: 1999
Label: EMI

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Review

Martha Argerich’s first commercially released recordings of the Chopin concertos were for DG; No. 1 with the London Symphony Orchestra under Abbado in 1968, No. 2 with the National Symphony Orchestra under Rostropovich in 1978. Today, she revisits both concertos with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under Charles Dutoit and offers an act of recreative daring, of an alternating reverie and passion that flashes fire with a thousand different lights. Indeed, her earlier performances (see mingly non pareil at the time) are infinitely less witty, personal and eruptive, less inclined to explore, albeit with the most spontaneous caprice and insouciance, so many new facets, angles and possibilities. Now, everything is accomplished without a care for studios and microphones and with a degree of involvement that suggests an increase rather than a diminution of her love for these works.

Her first entry in the E minor Concerto is intensely dramatic and fortissimo, her second subject coloured on each appearance by the most audacious rubato. Listen to her at 7'40'', countering Chopin’s legatissimo right-hand octaves with an underlying left-hand tension that is at once personally yet authentically stretto. She commences the finale in playfully emphatic style before spinning off page after page of her most spine-tingling bravura, her darting crescendos and descrescendos within the phrase and bar like sudden spurts of flame. How classic, too (if the term be allowed for performances that pulse with such engagement), is that sudden snatching at a phrase at 2'59'' in the Second Concerto, before a no less characteristic calming and luxuriant compensation. The final mazurka is the epitome of grace (semplice ma graziosamente as well as Allegro vivace) and the coda, launched with an impish acceleration by Dutoit (did he hope to catch her napping?), is of an inflammatory brio that will make lesser mortals weep with envy. The recordings, when you stop to notice them, are impressively natural (very much as you would hear these concertos in the concert hall) and if Dutoit occasionally seems awed if not cowed into anonymity by his soloist (the opening tuttis to the slow movements of both concertos are less memorable than they should be) he sets off Argerich’s charisma to an exceptional degree.

Finally, those inclined to wonder at Martha Argerich’s welfare, particularly after her recent illness, can rest assured. Her light burns brighter than ever. Rarely in their entire history have the Chopin concertos received performances of a more teasing allure, brilliance and idiosyncrasy.

-- Bryce Morrison, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 7
http://www.classical.net/~music/recs/reviews/e/emi56798a.php
http://www.amazon.com/Chopin-Piano-Concertos-Dutoit-Argerich/dp/B00000IWVP
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chopin-Piano-Concertos-Charles-Dutoit/dp/B00000IWVP

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Frédéric Chopin (22 February or 1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era who wrote primarily for the solo piano. He gained and has maintained renown worldwide as one of the leading musicians of his era, whose "poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation". Chopin's music, his status as one of music's earliest superstars, his association (if only indirect) with political insurrection, his love life and his early death have made him a leading symbol of the Romantic era in the public consciousness. His works remain popular, and he has been the subject of numerous films and biographies of varying degrees of historical accuracy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Chopin

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Martha Argerich (born June 5, 1941 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine pianist generally considered to be one of the greatest of the second half of the 20th century, although her aversion to the press and publicity has resulted in her remaining out of the limelight for most of her career. Argerich gave her debut concert at the age of 8 and made her first commercial recording in 1960. Argerich rose to international prominence when she won the seventh International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1965, at age 24. She is noted for her bravura technique and the raw energy of her interpretations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Argerich

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