Argerich Playing and Talking

I had been quite busy this summer and didn’t know these fascinating news about Argerich until now: Her performance at Verbier Festival on July 22, 2008 and the DVD releases of that long-waited documentary film by Georges Gachot. “Martha Argerich, Evening Talks” and performances at Verbier Festival 2007.

Argerich at Verbier Festival

Once again, Merdici.tv presents 27 webcasts of concerts in Verbier Festival 2008 for free online viewing (for a certain period, I think. 60 days?). You can watch these even in high resolution if you have high-speed internet connection. The broadcasting is quite smooth for me.

How’s the performance? Well, I was speechless in front of my PC LCD screen! Incredible. I couldn’t find words to descirbe my feelings. I thought about my only Argerich live concert at Carnegie Hall few years ago. Of course, watching the webcast is not the same as attending the concert. But it still amazed me (too bad that I didn’t catch the live broadcasting). Merdici, thanks for giving this opportunity to watch Argerich playing.

Tuesday, July 22 – 7:00 pm – Médran
New Encounters I: Joshua Bell, violin; Yuri Bashmet, viola; Mischa Maisky, cello; Martha Argerich & Stephen Kovacevich, piano

• Johann Sebastian Bach: Partita No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826 (Argerich)
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Two Bagatelles, Op. 126 (Kovacevich) — not in the webcast
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata No. 31, Op. 110 (Kovacevich) — not in the webcast
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Andante and Five Variations for piano (four hands), K. 501 (Argerich/Kovacevich)
• Dmitri Shostakovich: Piano Quintet, Op. 57 (Argerich, Bell, Bashmet, Maisky)

Don’t forget to check other concerts of other festivals (including Aspen and Aix) at Merdici.tv.

Related information:

• Photos of Argerich & other performers at Verbier
• Medici.tv Summer Webcast Series Returns to the Verbier Festival July 18 — complete listting of Verbier webcasts

DVD “Martha Argerich, Evening Talks”

I heard of this documentay film by Geroges Gachot for a while. It’s really a good news to me that EuroArt finally releases the DVDthis summer.

Martha Argerich Evening Talks / with Nelson Freire, Friedrich Gulda; Faerber/Württemberg

Label: EuroArts
Catalog No: EUA 3073428
List Price: $28.98
Release Date: 2008-07-29
Number of Discs: 1
UPC Code: 899132000657
Region Code: 0

Album Remarks & Appraisals:

“First of all, there was the interview – which is not an interview at all, as I do not believe I asked her a single question. Let us, rather, call it a conversation that took place at dead of night, without a spotlight or make-up – a single `night-time conversation’ recorded as if by miracle on the magnetic tape of a comer that would then become the very heart of this film.” -Georges Gachot

It took the French film director Georges Gachot 20 years to convince the very private and elusive Martha Argerich to agree to appear on camera for this intimate portrait. The resulting film pays tribute to this great pianist’s 40-year career with a blend of informal conversations and superb performance footage. It also contains rare archival material from across the globe including footage from her 1957 First Prize win at the Geneva Competition when she was just 16.

The DVD is 63 min long plus 38 min bonus. The bonus includes

1. Witold Lutoslawski, Variations on a The by Paganini [Martha Argerich & Mauricio Vallina, piano, recorded in Pescara, Italy, 2000]

2. Robert Schumann, Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 [Director's cut of the rehearsals; Martha Argerich, Wurttembergisches Kammerorchester, conducted by Jorg Faerber; recorded at Heilbronn, Germany, 2001]

Astor Piazzola, arr. Eduardo Hubert [Martha Argerich & Eduardo Hubert,piano, Ricardo Rossi, percussion; Recorded in Pescara, Italy, 2000]
3. Libertango
4. Tres minutos con la realidad

Encores by Martha [Recorded in Zurich, Switzerland, 2001]
5. Domenico Scarlatti, Sonata in D minor, K141
6. Frederic Chopin, Mazurka in F minor, Op 63 No. 2
7. Johann Sebastian Bach, Partita No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826: Capriccio

Reference: Naoxs Blog

Related information:

• Martha Argerich Evening Talks (EuroArts)
• TheStar.com | entertainment | Martha Argerich Evening Talks (review)
• New York Times | Once-Shy Pianist Tells, Um, Not Quite All (review 08/03/2008; but didn’t mention the bonus bit)
• Ionarts: DVD: Martha Argerich Evening Talks

DVD Verbier Festival Highlights 2007

VERBIER FESTIVAL Highlights 2007. Martha Argerich, Nelson Freire, Helene Grimaud etc. Works by Lutoslawski, Schumann, Schubert, Debussy, Bartok. Released on 7/28/2008 by Merdici Arts [NTSC; 90 min]

Haven’t seen this in Amazon.com but you can find it in European online retailers. I’ll wait for US release (by EuroArts?) since it’s usually much cheaper.

Cannot wait to have these two DVDs!