100 Musicians
IT IS almost impossible to get any two musicians to agree on who is the ‘greatest this’ or the ‘most brilliant’ that. But not quite impossible — because there will be few dissenters from the idea that Martha Argerich is both the greatest and most brilliant living pianist.
Born in 1941 in Buenos Aires, Argerich’s 18th century paternal ancestors were from Catalonia. But her maternal grandparents were Russian Jews. Argerich is not often thought of as Jewish — unlike others, such as Murray Perahia or Andras Schiff — but in a conversation some 20 years ago, she told me that she thinks of herself as Jewish, and among her friends she is known for her strong views on contemporary Jewish issues and antisemitism.
A prodigy, she is said to have copied note perfectly on the piano a piece played by a kindergarten teacher as a two year old. She made her concert debut at eight (playing both Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor and Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto in C major), with the family moving to Europe when she was 14 so she could study with Friedrich Gulda in Austria.
In 1957 she won the Geneva International Music Competition and then, three weeks later, the Ferruccio Busoni International Competition. Her first recording, in 1960, of Chopin, Brahms, Liszt, Prokofiev and Ravel remains today one of the finest recitals ever recorded.
But she was stricken with a form of fear of playing and did not touch a piano for three years. Coaxed back, in 1965 she won the International Chopin Piano Competition at 24, which marked the launch of her stellar career.
Her technique is regarded as perfect, but it is her musicianship which marks her out. There is a limpid, lyrical but nonetheless rhythmical feel to everything she touches, whether it is pieces for solo piano, the chamber music she seems to derive most enjoyment from (and which she records every year at the music festival she hosts) or her concerto performances. Her hands are relatively small for a pianist so she no longer plays, for example, Rachmaninov’s Third piano concerto — but her recording is breathtaking. Until last year she had not given a solo recital since the 1980s (she says they make her feel “lonely” on stage) but she recorded a concert with violinist Renaud Capuçon to an empty hall in Hamburg — and, thrillingly and surprisingly, played the Third Chopin Sonata. It is on YouTube and as magnificent as hoped for by those who dreamed it might one day happen.