Martha Argerich (piano), Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Lahav Shani
Avanti · AVA10662 · 50 minutes
Argerich pairing with Lahav Shani feels like watching two generations of musical instinct meet in real time, and the chemistry pays off especially in the Beethoven, where she seems less interested in dominating the orchestra than in trading ideas with it. That pearlised touch the critics keep mentioning isn’t an exaggeration either — there’s a lightness in the Allegro that somehow still carries real weight underneath. Fifty minutes goes by fast when the playing feels this alive and unrehearsed, even after all these decades of her playing this repertoire.
Awards:
- BBC Music Magazine — May 2023 — Concerto Choice
- International Classical Music Awards — 2024 — Nominated – Concerto
- Sunday Times — 10 Best Classical Albums of 2023
“Shani and the Israel Philharmonic create a finely detailed sound in both these concertos, allowing Argerich to duet gracefully with them in the Beethoven. Her touch is pearlised in the Allegro…”
— BBC Music Magazine, May 2023,5 out of 5 stars
Martha Argerich & Daniel Barenboim (piano duo)
Deutsche Grammophon · 4793922 · 75 minutes
Two pianists who’ve known each other’s playing for decades sit down at one instrument (and two) and the result is less a duet than a single mind split across twenty fingers. The Rite of Spring arrangement is the real jaw-dropper here — Argerich and Barenboim find a kind of sensuous elegance in music that usually gets pummeled into submission, without losing any of its violence. It’s the sound of two musicians who trust each other completely, which turns out to be exactly what this repertoire demands.
Awards:
- Presto Recording of the Week — 27th October 2014
- Presto Recordings of the Year — Winner 2014
“Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring prompts several adjectives: brutal, revolutionary, relentless, terrifying…But elegant? Urbane, seductive, sensuous? This astonishing performance is all that and…”
— BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2014,5 out of 5 stars
Maria João Pires (piano), Martha Argerich (piano), Gautier Capuçon (cello), Lily Maisky (piano), Sascha Maisky (violin), Lyda Chen (viola), Mischa Maisky (cello), Nicholas Angelich (piano), Polina Leschenko (piano), Ilya Gringolts (violin), Nathan Braude (viola), Torleif Thedéen (cello), Nelson Goerner…
Warner Classics · 7211192 · 3 hours 44 minutes
Nearly four hours of chamber music with basically half the greatest names in the business crammed onto one Swiss stage, and somehow it never feels like too much of a good thing. There’s a looseness here that only comes from friends who trust each other completely — Argerich trading phrases with Pires, the Maisky family folding into ensembles left and right — and you can practically hear the joy in the room even through the recording. It won’t be the tidiest chamber disc in your collection, but tidiness was never really the point of Lugano.
Awards:
- Presto Recording of the Week — 13th May 2013
- Gramophone Magazine — August 2013 — Editor’s Choice
- Gramophone Awards — 2014 — Shortlisted – Chamber
“Several of the ensembles could have benefited from more sustained period of rehearsal, yet they still communicate vibrancy and the sheer enjoyment possible when fine musicians get together to…”
— BBC Music Magazine, August 2013,4 out of 5 stars
Martha Argerich (piano), Renaud Capuçon (violin), Sergey Babayan (piano), Sergio Tiempo (piano), Karin Lechner (piano), Nicholas Angelich (piano)violinDavid Guerrier, hornviolino, Tedi Papavrami (violin)piano, Stephen Kovacevich (piano)Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana,…
Warner Classics · 9029583165 · 3 hours 35 minutes
There’s something almost joyful and chaotic about the way Argerich runs these Lugano gatherings — less a curated concert series than a big musical house party where extraordinary friends show up and things happen in real time. You get three and a half hours of that unpredictable energy here, with Capuçon, Babayan, Tiempo and the rest all bouncing ideas off each other, and Argerich herself sounding as sharp and mischievous as ever at 76. It’s chamber music at its most alive, the kind of playing that only comes from people who trust each other completely and aren’t afraid to take risks in front of an audience.
Awards:
- BBC Music Magazine — Concerto Choice
- Grammy Awards — 60th Awards (2017) — Nominee – Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance
- Building a Library — January 2021 — Recommended Recording
“This is the last of Warner’s annual gleanings from the Lugano Festival at which Martha Argerich presides – and definitely the most exciting. She may be 76, but her playing has lost none of…”
— BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2017,5 out of 5 stars
Martha Argerich (piano)Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Charles Dutoit
Warner Classics · 5567982 · 69 minutes
Argerich’s relationship with these concertos spans decades, and what’s striking about this later pairing is how much freer she sounds compared to her earlier DG accounts — the youthful fire is still there, but now it’s shot through with a kind of unpredictable rubato that feels genuinely spontaneous rather than studied. Dutoit and the Montreal players give her exactly the kind of alert, breathing accompaniment she needs, never boxing her in. Three decades of Building a Library votes and a Gramophone Award later, it’s still the recording people reach for first, and honestly, once you hear the slow movement of the Second Concerto here, you’ll understand why.
Awards:
- Building a Library — October 2000 — First Choice
- Gramophone Awards — 1999 — Winner – Concerto
- Building a Library — September 2016 — First Choice
- Building a Library — March 2023 — Recommended Recording
“Martha Argerich’s first commercially released recordings of the Chopin concertos were for DG; No 1 in 1968, No 2 in 1978. Here she revisits both concertos and offers an act of re-creative daring,…”
— Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010
Martha Argerich (piano)
Deutsche Grammophon · 4474302 · 71 minutes
There’s something almost unsettling about how fully formed Argerich already sounds here at twenty — the Chopin has that dangerous combination of total technical command and complete spontaneity, like she’s discovering the music in real time even as she nails every impossible passage. Sixty years on, critics still reach for this disc when they want to explain what “born to play the piano” actually means, and the Prokofiev Toccata alone will tell you why. It’s the kind of debut that makes you wonder what everyone else had been doing with their hands.
Awards:
- Building a Library — July 2005 — Mid-Price Choice
- Building A Library — July 2021 — Recommended Recording
“Here, on this richly filled CD, is a positive cornucopia of musical genius.Martha Argerich’s 1961 disc remains among the most spectacular of all recorded débuts, an impression reinforced by…”
— Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010
Martha Argerich (piano)Orchestra Mozart, Claudio Abbado
Deutsche Grammophon · 4791033 · 61 minutes
Argerich playing the D minor concerto feels almost inevitable, like she was born to dig into that stormy, restless opening movement and find every ounce of drama Mozart hid in it. What makes this pairing so special is the chemistry with Abbado — you can hear two musicians who trusted each other completely, finishing each other’s phrases without ever rushing the conversation. There’s a looseness to the whole thing that never tips into carelessness, just the sound of genuinely great musicians enjoying themselves.
Awards:
- BBC Music Magazine — April 2014 — Disc of the month
- Gramophone Magazine — March 2014 — Editor’s Choice
- Presto Recordings of the Year — Finalist 2014
- Building A Library — January 2022 — Recommended Recording – K466
“Thi is a really fine performance [of K503], with impeccably judged tempos in all three movements, and great playing from the Orchestra Mozart…[in the D minor Concerto] Argerich’s playing is…”
— BBC Music Magazine, April 2014,5 out of 5 stars
Martha Argerich (piano)
Deutsche Grammophon · 4795978 · 90 minutes
There’s something almost unfair about hearing Argerich this young and already this complete — the Chopin has that electric spontaneity everyone talks about, but listen to how she shapes a phrase like she’s already lived several lifetimes inside it. You get the sense these performances aren’t building toward the legend she’d become; they’re proof she arrived fully formed, which is a slightly unsettling thing to sit with for ninety minutes. Anyone who’s only known her through later recordings owes it to themselves to hear where that fire started.
Awards:
- Gramophone Magazine — August 2016 — Re-issue of the Month
- Presto Recordings of the Year — Finalist 2016
“The difficulty in writing about the piano playing of Martha Argerich is that it is now, and always has been, so relentlessly good…Her Mozart bubbles with the freshness and effervescence of…”
— Gramophone Magazine, August 2016
