Martha Argerich - Martha Argerich Live, Vol. 11 (2023)

Half a century separates the Martha Argerich of today from the one found in this eleventh volume of archives published by Doremi. We find there the works that the Argentinean pianist has been cultivating for so long, here Beethoven's Concerto No. 1 captured at the 1971 Salzburg Festival with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in its best years under the direction of friend Claudio Abbado, a conductor who was particularly important in the career of Martha Argerich and with whom she played throughout her life. We find her the same year in Liszt's First Concerto under the baton of Moshe Atzmon.

The rest of this album is devoted to excerpts from recitals recorded in Cologne in 1960, Venice in 1969 and New York in 1974. Martha Argerich was 19 when she recorded Sonata No. 8, in A minor, K. 310 of Mozart for Cologne Radio. This Mozart is a real miracle of luminosity, insolent ease, joy of living and playing with an incredibly fluid touch, in an uninterrupted discourse that always tells something.

Whether it's Chopin's Funeral Sonata in New York, Bach's English Suite in A minor, Beethoven's Opus 101 or Schumann's Childhood Scenes, all three recorded in Venice, we remain blissful admiration in front of this always inspired musicality and this technique allowing him all the audacity and all the fantasies.