Maciej Dziekiewicz wrote:

>Yesterday Martha Argherich was playing List Piano Concerto and Chopin
>e-moll concerto, with Sinfonia Varsovia and truly neurotic Alexandre
>Rabinovitch.
>
>Martha was so nervous during List that she blew it completely.  Of course
>it was technically perfect but she was completely absent-minded and was
>just playing notes with notorious dynamic violations.  She could not get
>herself concentrated enough to play pianos and she was all the time falling
>into mezzoforte and forte at the same time hitting upon the keybord too
>hard and so too flat.  When she wasn't playing she was nervously pushing up
>and down the pedal and her hands lying on her legs were shaking.  List
>was therefore very nervous hectic and overdone.

I heard her play the Liszt 1 at Carnegie Hall last October with Montreal
and Dutoit.  And a truly legendary performance it was!  Her interpretation
is very...unique, with very quick tempos and heart-pounding excitement.
I remember the time of the entire concert to be 17 minutes flat, which is
slightly quicker than her performance with Abbado on DG originals.

Now, I saw her on Saturday night and Sunday morning performances, and I
can't remember which day had the List 1 (or Chopin 1).  All I can remember
is that after one of the performances, she got 8 curtain calls, and after
the 8th one, she took concertmasters hand and motioned the rest of the
orchestra to leave the stage.  The audience would not let her leave!

Perhaps the very problem you have with her performance is the very reason
why I think she owns this concerto.  The frenetic pace and added the
nervous edge to a concerto that, in my opinion, needs it.

>It is truly great and truly troubled pianist, just as the legend says.

Well, there's no one quite like Argerich, that's for sure.

Young
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Albert Einstein College of Medicine