Martha Argerich & Sergei Babayan - Prokofiev for Two (2018) [CD-Rip]

Nestled up cosily with Sergei Babayan, gazing into the distance, rather like Juliet next to Romeo, Martha Argerich seems to have had an eye on marketing when she produced the "Prokofiev for Two" album cover for her longstanding publisher, Deutsche Grammophon. Although well-known, these works haven't yet been released in this format: each of the 19 pieces is an accomplished transcription by Sergei Babayan. More than half of this album is given over to extracts from the ballet Romeo and Juliet, originally a symphonic work, but one that sounds devilishly good when brought to life by these two exceptional pianists. The remainder of the album is made up of various pieces of stage music, from Hamlet, Eugene Onegin and the opera War and Peace. This is a reinvigorating album, with an eighty-year-old Martha Argerich who has lost none of her extraordinary technique. As for the Armenian pianist Sergei Babayan, a student of Mikhail Pletnev and a teacher of Daniil Trifonov, he seems to be having great fun with his own transcriptions alongside his long-time partner and friend. © François Hudry/Qobuz