Argerich is always awesome

MARTHA ARGERICH, Live from Concertgebouw, 1978/1979: Schumann - Fantasiestucke. Ravel - Sonatine, Gaspard de la nuit. Martha Argerich, piano. EMI Classics 57101.

Martha Argerich has also made studio recordings of the works mentioned. Even so, I remain very fond of live performances. They make me feel I am there, so much so that I sometimes add my own private applause to the applause of recorded applause of the audience.

So much has been written about the playing of this brilliant Argentinean pianist, and almost all of it stresses the powerful readings she can get out of a piano.

For instance, the writer of the notes with this disc quotes other sources that have called her playing "volcanic," by which they surely meant a very active volcano. And yes, some have suggested that her playing sometimes verges on the bombastic.

I think too much is made of the strength of her playing and often too little of her great artistry in capturing a composer`s intent. I think this is demonstrated fully in her chamber work, an area of music in which she has chosen to concentrate in recent years.

Nevertheless, the power, the immense power, of her playing probably always will be a key consideration in any evaluation of her work. And when it comes to throwing down thunder bolts, she can match anybody.

We hear this at the beginning of the second movement of Schumann`s "Fantasiestucke." After the quiet ending of the first movement, the crash on the piano that introduces the second is startling. And she maintains the pace throughout the movement.

There is much to admire in the sixth and seventh movements as she creates a velocity that is awesome. But in doing so, she never lets her fingers simply run wild. Each note is sounded distinctly. She never lets velocity become an end in itself. And this again is evidence of her superior technique.

Just as evident is the delicacy of her playing as demonstrated in the final movement of the work. Listen to the way she plays the last three chords with the long rests in between. She creates such a hushed conclusion that the audience itself delays its own response as though loath to leave the reverie in which she has wrapped them. And then it explodes in appreciation of her playing with an ovation.

When looked at as a total program, the work by Schumann and the two by Ravel, the whole thing, can be seen as a romance, a dream-like fantasy.

I was particularly impressed with the sensitivity of the pianist`s playing of the chords in the last movement of "Sonatine, Anime," proving the versatility of her artistry.

But, if we speak again of what so many seem to feel is Argerich`s forte, the way she plays the agitated figures in Scarbo, the final movement of Gaspard de la nuit, building to a white heat, is breathtaking.

Catch your breath and listen then to the opposite emotion she can create. Listen to the dignity the plays in the somber chords in the base with the treble referring to earlier figures.

QUIETUDE, music of Satie, Salzedo, Debussy, Respighi, Chopin, Sibelius and Mendelssohn. Yolanda Kondonassis, harp. Telarc 80533.

I wonder if there is anything more soothing than music played beautifully on the harp?

I know that when appropriate dinner music is selected for my table, more often than not the selection is some album of harp music of which we are especially fond. And I might add that music for solo flute is not far behind.

Yolanda Kondonassis is a harpist whose skilled fingers caress the stings of her instrument in just the right manner. She can induce that half-conscious state of reverie that allows us to enjoy our dreams without distracting us from the demands of our work-a-day world, even if that workday activity is simply having dinner.

(c) Copley News Service

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Author: King Durkee