Martha Argerich: The Warner Classics Edition
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BARTOK / RAVEL / PROKOFIEV / CHOPIN / MOZART / SCHUMANN / BEETHOVEN / BACH / etc
Martha Argerich: The Warner Classics Edition
Martha Argerich (piano) with Renaud Capucon, Mischa Maisky, Gautier Capucon, Natalia Gutman, Nelson Freire, Itzhak Perlman, Truls Mork, etc
[ Warner Classics / 46 CD Box Set ]
Release Date: Friday 21 February 2025
This item is only available to us via Special Import.
"Unquestionably one of the greatest pianists of all time" is how Gramophone magazine has described Martha Argerich. Her relationship with the label goes back to 1965 and her victory at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw. Over several decades it has produced a rich catalogue of live and studio recordings, embracing a repertoire that spans three centuries, a diversity of genres, and collaborations with such figures as Charles Dutoit, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Gidon Kremer, Mischa Maisky and Itzhak Perlman. The complete recordings for EMI Classics, Teldec, Erato and Warner Classics are featured in this box.
Martha Argerich is a pianist of transcendent gifts and her special joy in musical collaboration is the key to the second part of this collection: the complete live recordings made at Switzerland's Lugano Festival between 2002 and 2016 and released by EMI Classics and Warner Classics. Argerich is heard in solo works and concertos, but above all in intimate partnership with fellow instrumentalists, performers she sees as her musical "family".
This new boxset puts together in 46 CDs all the recordings made by Martha Argerich for EMI Classics, Teldec, Erato and Warner Classics, from 1965 to 2020.
Martha Argerich, born in Buenos Aires in 1941, has been described by Gramophone as "unquestionably one of the greatest pianists of all time, her legendary pianism, liquid-fire virtuosity and imaginative vitality unique in the annals of piano playing". Her relationship with Warner Classics and all its past and present labels has lasted more than 50 years, and began with the legendary 1965 Chopin recording.
Pianist magazine has written that: "Few other musicians spark such adoration among peers and juniors alike as does Martha Argerich." Fellow Warner Classics pianist Stephen Kovacevich, who has been close to her for decades, says: "Her sound is wonderful. She has a gift and she must enjoy showing her gift - and that's infectious."
Argerich's career has been unconventional and this adds to her charisma and mystique. Though her artistic range is wide, she has focused on a relatively small, though diverse repertoire. She gives only a limited number of performances a year and in the past was notorious for cancelling concerts at short notice if she felt she was not in peak form.
She is a generous mentor to young artists, notably through her former Progetto Martha Argerich at the Lugano Festival in Switzerland.
The new box is divided into two parts.
The first part (24 CDs) comprises all the recordings from the EMI Classics, Teldec, Erato and Warner Classics catalogues (except those from the Lugano Festival). It includes both live and studio recordings and a variety of genres: solo piano music, music for piano duo, chamber works and concertos. All are presented with their original coupling and cover artwork.
The second part (22 CDs) comprises all live recordings made by Martha Argerich at the Lugano Festival, from 2002 to the last edition in 2016, and released by EMI Classics and Warner Classics. It features a wide variety of genres: solo piano music, lots of music for piano duo and among them many arrangements, chamber works and concertos. These Lugano recordings were mostly originally released as an annual 3-CD boxset - with Martha performing only a part of them - representing the highlights of the previous year's festival concerts.
"This disc can be recommended, then, particularly for the Prokofiev and for all Argerich fans. I have never heard her give less than a sterling performance. Indeed, she does not disappoint here" (MusicWeb Feb 2009 on the Bartok, Prokofiev concertos)
"Argerich's light burns brighter than ever. Rarely in their entire history have the Chopin concertos received performances of a more teasing allure, brilliance and idiosyncrasy" Gramophone Award Winner 1999 - Concerto [Chopin]
"The chamber works with pianist Martha Argerich which generously fill this album come from performances made at Verbier Festival. The performances are a delight without exception, and very well captured, with Argerich multicolored sound omnipresent throughout." ClassicReview [Schumann]
"..this brilliant disc deserves its legendary appellation...Argerich performs with such white-hot intensity that it scarcely feels like a studio recording. Her volcanic energy can leave you scrambling to keep up, but the Thrid Sonata is breathtaking in its spontaneity, and the Mazurkas are richly imbued with Polish spirit" Legendary 1965 Recording
"Argerich's piano playing is supremely alive, moving under Perlman's muscular melody in ebbing, tugging waves...Perlman's tone may be fractionally less sweet than it was nearly two decades ago, but the sense of line in his playing remains supreme, and Argerich's Bach accompaniments are like a sprung dancefloor underneath him." The Guardian (Bach)
Tracks:
Albeniz, Isaac
Iberia (excerpts)
Bacalov, Luis
Portena for two pianos and orchestra
Bach, Johann Sebastian
Partita no.2 in C minor, BWV826
Violin Sonata no.4 in C minor, BWV1017
Bartok, Bela
Contrasts, Sz111 BB116
Piano Concerto no.3, BB127, Sz119
Piano Sonata, Sz80 BB88
Romanian Folk Dances (6) for piano, Sz56 BB68 (arr. Zoltan Szekely for violin and piano)
Sonata for 2 pianos and percussion, BB115 Sz110
Violin Sonata no.1, Sz75 BB84, op.21
Beethoven, Ludwig van
Cello Sonata no.2 in G minor, op.5 no.2
Fantasy for piano, chorus and orchestra in C minor, op.80 'Choral Fantasy'
Piano Concerto no.1 in C major, op.15
Piano Quartets (3), WoO36
» no.3 in C major
Piano Trio no.4 in B flat major, op.11 'Gassenhauer'
Piano Trio no.5 in D major, op.70 no.1 'Ghost'
Symphony no.6 in F major, op.68 'Pastoral' (arr. Selmar Bagge for piano four hands)
Triple Concerto in C major for piano, violin and cello, op.56
Variations (7) on 'Bei Mannern, welche Liebe fuhlen' for cello and piano, WoO46
Violin Sonata no.8 in G major, op.30 no.3
Violin Sonata no.9 in A major, op.47 'Kreutzer'
Brahms, Johannes
Scherzo in C minor (F.A.E. Sonata), WoO2
Sonata for 2 pianos in F minor, op.34b
Variations on a theme by Haydn, op.56b 'St Anthony Variations' (two pianos)
Waltzes (16), op.39
» no.1 in B major
» no.2 in E major
» no.3 in G sharp minor
» no.4 in E minor
» no.5 in E major
Chopin, Frederic
Introduction and Polonaise brillante, op.3
Mazurkas (51)
» (3) op.59
Nocturnes (21)
» no.4 in F major, op.15 no.1
» no.13 in C minor, op.48 no.1
Piano Concerto no.1 in E minor, op.11
Piano Concerto no.2 in F minor, op.21
Piano Sonata no.3 in B minor, op.58
Polonaise no.6 in A flat major, op.53 'Heroic'
Scherzi (4)
» no.3 in C sharp minor, op.39
Debussy, Claude
Cello Sonata in D minor, L135
En blanc et noir
La Plus que lente, L121
Petite Suite
Prelude a l'Apres-midi d'un faune (version for 2 pianos)
Preludes (12), Book 1
» no.12 Minstrels
Dukas, Paul
The Sorcerer's Apprentice (L'Apprenti sorcier) (arr. for 2 pianos)
Falla, Manuel de
Noches en los Jardines de Espana (Nights in the Gardens of Spain)
Franck, Cesar
Cello Sonata in A major
Violin Sonata in A major
Ginastera, Alberto
Danzas argentinas (3), op.2
Guastavino, Carlos
Romances argentinos (3)
Haydn, Franz Joseph
Piano Trio no.39 in G major, Hob.XV:25 'Gypsy'
Janacek, Leos
Concertino, JWVII/11
Kreisler, Fritz
Liebesleid
Schon Rosmarin
Liszt, Franz
Concerto pathetique for 2 pianos in E minor, S258
Les Preludes (2 pianos), S637
Reminiscences de Don Juan (Mozart) for two pianos, S656
Lutoslawski, Witold
Variations on a Theme by Paganini
Mendelssohn, Felix
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Incidental Music, op.61
» Scherzo (arr. for 2 pianos)
Piano Trio in D minor, op.49
Messiaen, Olivier
Visions de l'Amen
Mores, Mariano
Taquito militar (trans. for 2 pianos by Ale Petrasso)
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
Andante with variations in G major for piano duet, K501
Concerto for 2 pianos in E flat major, K365
Fantasia in F minor for Mechnical Organ, K608 (piano duet)
Piano Concerto no.20 in D minor, K466
Piano Concerto no.25 in C major, K503
Piano Sonata no.16 in C major, K545
Sonata for 2 pianos in D major, K448
Sonata for piano duet in C major, K521
Sonata for piano duet in D major, K381
Sonata for piano duet in F major, K497
Piazzolla, Astor
Tangos (3)
Pletnev, Mikhail
Fantasia Elvetica
Poulenc, Francis
Sonata for piano 4 hands, FP8
Prokofiev, Sergei
Piano Concerto no.1 in D flat major, op.10
Piano Concerto no.3 in C major, op.26
Piano Sonata no.7 in B flat major, op.83
Symphony no.1 in D major, op.25 'Classical' (arr. for 2 pianos)
Violin Sonata no.2 in D major, op.94a
Rachmaninov, Sergei
Morceaux (6) for piano duet, op.11
Suite no.1 in G minor for two pianos, op.5
Suite no.2 in C major for two pianos, op.17
Symphonic Dances, op.45 (arr. 2 pianos)
Ravel, Maurice
Gaspard de la nuit
La Valse (two pianos)
Ma Mere l'Oye (Mother Goose) (arr. for four hands)
Piano Concerto in G major
Sonatine
Saint-Saens, Camille
Carnival of the Animals
Scarlatti, Domenico
Keyboard Sonata in D minor, K141
Schubert, Franz
Variations in A flat major on an original theme, D813
Schumann, Robert
Adagio and Allegro, op.70
Andante and Variations in B flat major, op.46
Fantasiestucke (3), op.73
Fantasiestucke (8), op.12
Fantasiestucke in A minor for piano trio, op.88
Kinderszenen, op.15
Marchenbilder, op.113
Piano Concerto in A minor, op.54
Piano Quartet in E flat major, op.47
Piano Quintet in E flat major, op.44
Stucke (5) im Volkston, op.102
Stucke (6) in kanonischer Form (Studies in canonic form), op.56
Violin Sonata no.1 in A minor, op.105
Violin Sonata no.2 in D minor, op.121
Shostakovich, Dmitri
Concertino for two pianos, op.94
Piano Concerto no.1 in C minor, op.35
Piano Quintet in G minor, op.57
Piano Trio no.2 in E minor, op.67
Smetana, Bedrich
Rondo in C major for 2 pianos eight hands
Sonata in E minor for 2 pianos eight hands
Strauss, Richard
Sinfonia domestica, op.53 TrV209 (arr. Otto Singer)
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich
The Nutcracker: Suite, op.71a (arr. for 2 pianos)
Weinberg, Mieczyslaw
Violin Sonata no.5, op.53
Zarebski, Juliusz
Piano Quintet in G minor, op.34
