{"id":5631,"date":"2012-08-21T07:17:32","date_gmt":"2012-08-21T12:17:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=5631"},"modified":"2012-08-21T07:17:32","modified_gmt":"2012-08-21T12:17:32","slug":"cd-review-martha-argerich-pours-out-life-force-in-2011-summer-festival-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2012\/08\/21\/cd-review-martha-argerich-pours-out-life-force-in-2011-summer-festival-album\/","title":{"rendered":"CD Review: Martha Argerich pours out life force in 2011 summer festival album"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
For 11 straight years, pianist Martha Argerich has assembled her personal dream team of musicians for a festival in Switzerland — captured in an album of highlights.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MARTHA ARGERICH AND FRIENDS<\/strong>
\nLive from Lugano 201 (EMI Classics)<\/em><\/p>\n

A half-century of musicmaking seems only to have been a warmup for Argentinean pianist Martha Argerich, who continues to wow with the immediacy and love she pours into every note she plays. There is life force in everything she touches.<\/p>\n

She and a small constellation of collaborators lay out a magnificent panorama in a 3-CD box of highlights from last summer\u2019s Martha Argerich Project Festival in Lugano, Switzerland — an annual treat since 2000. Each disc mixes tried-and-true repertoire with something unusual, and there isn’t a single note that doesn’t compel attention.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The first CD has an elegant, sleek performance of Ludwig van Beethoven\u2019s Violin Sonata No. 8<\/em> with Renaud Capu\u00e7on, a poised Piano Trio<\/em> by Joseph Haydn and Robert Schumann\u2019s Fantasiest\u00fccke<\/em> for piano and cello with Gautier Capu\u00e7on. The bonus rarity, played with what I can only describe as sensuality by Argerich and Cristina Marton, is a duo piano Sonata<\/em> (in F Major, K497) by Mozart.<\/p>\n

The second disc has Franz Liszt\u2019s two-piano arrangement of his heart-pumping-on-sleve 1851 Concerto path\u00e9tique<\/em> powerfully pairing Argerich with Lilya Zilberstein, followed by Rachmaninov\u2019s Trio \u00e9l\u00e9giaque<\/em>, written in memory of Tchaikovsky, all sad and good. Then all hell breaks loose in four movements of a suite for three pianos adapted from Cheryomushki<\/em>, a forgotten 1958 operetta by Shostakovich about Stalin-era slum-apartments of suburban Moscow.<\/p>\n

Despite the subject matter, this is true, rollicking operetta music clearly inspired by 19th<\/sup> century Vienna \u2013 except everything sounds forced and manic, suggesting that the aural dancing may not be in tune with life in a suburban slum.<\/p>\n

The final disc has two Argerich signature pieces by Ravel. La valse<\/em> is heard often because it makes a fabulous showpiece, but so rarely does the music truly dance and shimmer and sparkle and send ghostly shivers up and down the spine as in this spectacular performance.<\/p>\n

Her take on the G-Major Piano Concerto<\/em>, paired with the Orchestra della Svozzera italiana, is rhythmically lively yet sleek. Last on this disc is the real find: a magnificent 1885 Piano Quintet<\/em> completed by neglected Polish composer Julius Zarebski (1854-1885) in his final months. It is dedicated to Liszt.<\/p>\n

The intense, magnificently nuanced interpretation is worth the price of admission alone. The Adagio movement contains an aching viola solo (expertly rendered by Lida Chen) that gradually builds into a gorgeous, melancholy rhapsody for the full quintet.<\/p>\n

Especially after a particularly golden Toronto Summer Music Festival, people in this city aren’t lacking in fine, engaging chamber music, but performances like these help keep the flame burning for another year — and hopefully enchant new listeners along the way.<\/p>\n

I can’t find information on this album on EMI’s website, so here<\/a>, reluctantly, is a link to the album on Amazon.<\/p>\n

+++<\/p>\n

Here is a little Liszt bonbon, the Piano Concerto No. 2<\/em>, in A minor, from the 2011 festival in Lugano, from guests who didn’t make it into the CD box:<\/p>\n