Live at the Lugano Festival 2013 Martha Argerich & Friends

• 1 I. Allegro con brio 14:36
• 2 II. Largo 11:05
• 3 III. Rondo - Allegro scherzando 09:12
• 4 I. Adagio sostenuto ed espressivo 05:19
• 5 II. Allegro molto, pi? tosto presto 09:59
• 6 III. Rondo - Allegro 08:10
• 7 I. Moderato 08:38
• 8 II. Andante espressivo 09:15
• 9 III. Passacaglia - Allegro moderato, ma energico 07:34
• 10 Liszt: La lugubre gondola, S. 134 07:53
• 11 I. Allegro non troppo 12:00
• 12 II. Allegro 03:18
• 13 III. Largo 09:17
• 14 IV. Allegro 04:38
• 15 Ravel: Violin Sonata, Op. posth. M. 77 16:23
• 16 I. En bateau 03:33
• 17 II. Cortège 03:05
• 18 III. Menuet 03:01
• 19 IV. Ballet 03:41
• 20 I. Ouverture 02:12
• 21 II. Galop 01:00
• 22 III. Barcarolle 02:51
• 23 IV. Cancan 04:29
• 24 I. Marche royale du lion 02:19
• 25 II. Poules et coqs 00:43
• 26 III. Hémiones 00:33
• 27 IV. Tortues 03:25
• 28 V. L'éléphant 01:24
• 29 VI. Kangourous 00:58
• 30 VII. Aquarium 02:41
• 31 VIII. Personnages à longues oreilles 00:41
• 32 IX. Le coucou au fond des bois 02:37
• 33 X. Volière 01:21
• 34 XI. Pianistes 01:36
• 35 XII. Fossilles 01:23
• 36 XIII. Le cygne 04:04
• 37 XIV. Finale 02:21
• Total Runtime 03:07:15

Info for Live at the Lugano Festival 2013

The twelfth Progetto Martha Argerich took place during June and early July 2013. The aims of the Progetto since 2004 remain the same: to invite the most promising young musicians to take part in recitals, chamber and orchestral concerts and masterclasses with their older peers, all under the aegis (and with the full involvement) of the project’s namesake, Martha Argerich. These concerts are ideal for a pianist who has long since abandoned solo performance in preference for the collaborative world of chamber music-making and her determination to encourage the finest of the new generation of musicians — a mission she shares with many of her favourite collaborators, not least among them the late Claudio Abbado, himself the founder of more than a handful of world-class youth orchestras.

This three-disc compilation of highlights from the sixteen concerts that took place during the 2013 Progetto largely follows the format of its predecessors: opening with works representing the central tradition of the European Romantic repertoire, broadening out to include works from the later period and a wider geographical range. The compilation opens in fact with the last performance of the series, Martha Argerich herself in Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto. While her avoidance of later Beethoven concertos may be a cause of regret to her many admirers, the vitality and acuity of interpretation she brings to such classically scaled works as this remain among the wonders of the musical world. This is a work that has stayed with her for the entire length of her career, the earliest of her eight or more recordings dating from 1949, when she was an eight-year-old in Buenos Aires.

While performances by her young charges form the bulk of the Progetto, Argerich’s own pianism forms the backbone, not only of the concert series but also of these recordings. Her long-standing artistic partnership with the cellist Mischa Maisky continues to bear fruit in a traversal of the second of Beethoven’s five cello sonatas, the frisson offered by the live situation and the heavy whiff of the opera house that pervades this work in particular playing to the strengths of these two veteran musicians and offering a different angle on the work from their 1990 studio recording together. On the other hand, Debussy’s Petite Suite is new to her discography (in the West, at least). Two years on from their collaboration in Mozart’s piano-duo masterpiece, the F major Sonata, Argerich mounts the piano stool with the Romanian pianist Cristina Marton in Debussy’s 1889 four-hand work. The final work in this three-disc set sees Argerich at the centre of a grand gathering of ten of Lugano’s 2013 delegates for a gala performance of Saint-Saëns’s infectious Carnival of the Animals — a glorious opportunity for them all to demonstrate not only their natural virtuosity but also their individual descriptive abilities.

Martha Argerich is the guiding spirit behind the other selections on these discs although not involved in a practical sense in the performances. Two violin sonatas grace this set: one each by Ravel and Respighi. Ravel’s “Posthumous” Sonata is in fact an early work from 1897, in a single movement; despite its nascent Impressionism and tinges of orientalism, the composer deemed it unsuitable for publication and it did not appear in print until 1975, the year of his centenary. The violinist Andrey Baranov (winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2012) appeared in 2013 for the first time at the Progetto and is joined by the pianist Jura Margulis. Respighi’s B minor Sonata, the second of his two, dates from twenty years after the Ravel and is roughly contemporary with Respighi’s La Boutique fantasque and Fountains of Rome — with both of which it shares a fecundity of melody at the same time as a seriousness of intent that is perhaps less apparent in the orchestral works. The violinist in this performance, Renaud Capuçon, is no stranger to the Lugano stage and he is joined by the Swiss-Italian pianist Francesco Piemontesi.

Shostakovich’s sole Cello Sonata dates from 1934, shortly after the premiere of his opera The Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, and continues its composer’s search for a more direct, simpler language. At the time Shostakovich had argued with his wife and was staying in a friend’s empty Leningrad flat, and composed the sonata at night when he could not sleep. Its tragic mien turns to characteristically sour humour, qualities brought out by cellist Gautier Capuçon and pianist Gabriela Montero.

Liszt stayed with his son-in-law Richard Wagner at the Palazzo Vendramin on the Grand Canal in Venice in late 1882, and there he is said to have had the premonition of Wagner’s death that led to the composition of La lugubre gondola, evoking not only Wagner’s penchant for unending melody but also the gentle lapping of the water against the gondola’s side. The work exists in a number of versions: the original piano version was rapidly recomposed and shortly afterwards arranged for violin or cello with piano accompaniment; it is played here by the brother-and-sister duo of violinist Alissa and pianist Jura Margulis.

Carlo Maria Griguoli’s exhilarating multiple-piano arrangements have become something of a fixture at Lugano. The 2013 instalment saw Griguoli joined by Giorgia Tomassi and Alessandro Stella for Gaîté parisienne — based on music from operettas by Offenbach and orchestrated by Manuel Rosenthal for the Ballets russes’ Monte Carlo season of 1938, with choreography by Léonide Massine. Its frothy exuberance is by no means compromised by its re-imagination from Rosenthal’s orchestration to Griguoli’s scintillating version for three pianos.

Martha Argerich, piano
Lilya Zilberstein, piano
Cristina Marton, piano
Giorgia Tomassi, piano
Carlo Maria Griguoli, piano
Alessandro Stella, piano
Jura Margulis, piano
Gabriela Montero, piano
Francesco Piemontesi, piano
Gautier Capuçon, cello
Renaud Capuçon, violin
Andrey Baranov, violin
Michael Guttman, violin
Alissa Margulis, violin
Lyda Chen, viola
Mischa Maisky, cello
Alexandre Debrus, cello
Enrico Fagone, double bass
Alfred Rutz, flute
Corrado Giuffredi, clarinet
Gregorio Di Trapani, percussion

Orchestra della Svizzera italiana
Hubert Soudant, conductor

Recorded on 25th of June 2013, Auditorio Stelio Molo, Lugano
Producer, editing and mastered by Michael Rast
Executive producers (RSI): Giuseppe Clericetti and Carlo Piccardi

Martha Argerich
was born in Buenos Aires (Argentina). She began her first piano lessons at the age of five with Vincenzo Scaramuzza. Considered a child prodigy, she soon performs in public. In 1955, she moved to Europe and continued her studies in London, Vienna and in Switzerland with Bruno Seidlhofer, Friedrich Gulda, Nikita Magaloff, Madeleine Lipatti and Stefan Askenase.

In 1957, she won the Bolzano and Geneva Piano Competitions, and in 1965 the Warsaw International Chopin Competition. Since then, she has been one of the most prominent pianists in the world both in popularity and ability.

Martha Argerich has been rated highly for her performance of the virtuoso piano literature of the XIX and XX centuries. Her large repertoire includes Bach and Bartók, Beethoven and Messiaen, as well as Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Debussy, Ravel, Franck, Prokofiev, Stravinski, Shostakovitch, Tchaikovski.

Though she is permanently invited by the most prestigious orchestras, conductors and music festivals in Europe, Japan and America, chamber music takes a significant part of her musical life. She regularly plays and records with Nelson Freire, Ivry Gitlis, Mischa Maisky, Gidon Kremer and Daniel Barenboim: “This harmony within a group of people gives me a strong and peaceful feeling.”

Martha Argerich has recorded for EMI, Sony, Philips, Teldec, DGG and many of her performances were broadcasted on television worldwide. She has received many awards: »Grammy Award« for Bartók and Prokofiev Concertos, »Gramophon – Artist of the Year«, »Best Piano Concerto Recording of the Year« for Chopin Concertos, »Choc« of the Monde de la Musique for her Amsterdam’s recital, »Künstler des Jahres Deutscher Schallplatten Kritik«, »Grammy Award« for Prokofiev’s Cinderella with Mikhael Pletnev and lately a »Grammy Award« for Beethoven Concertos 2 & 3 with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under Claudio Abbado (DGG/»Best Instrumental Soloist Performance«), »The Sunday Times – Record of the Year« and »BBC Music Magazine Award« for her Shostakovitch recording (EMI, 2007). Last recordings include Mozart Concertos K466 and K503 with Orchestra Mozart and Claudio Abbado and a Duo Recital with Daniel Barenboim (Deutsche Grammophon).

Since 1998 she is the Artistic Director of the Beppu Festival in Japan. In 1999 she created the »International Piano Competition and Festival Martha Argerich« in Buenos Aires, and in June 2002 the »Progetto Martha Argerich« in Lugano.

Martha Argerich has received numerous distinctions: »Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres« in 1996. »Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres« in 2004 by the French Government, »Accademica di Santa Cecilia« in Rome in 1997, »Musician of the Year« by Musical America 2001, »The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette« by the Japanese Emperor and the prestigious »Praemium Imperiale« by the Japan Art Association in 2005.

Booklet for Live at the Lugano Festival 2013