Customer Reviews

Chopin: Piano Concertos nos. 1 & 2 / Dutoit, Argerich

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What a surprise to see Argerich on EMI! Hopefully this will only be the beginning. The Chopin displays not only her technique which is beyond belief but the musicianship which she also has in abundance. Her phrasing and dynamics are spectacular. Argerich knows exactly where to change the pace without being overly romantic. She also knows that when it is time to turn on the technical pyroworks she does so with ease.

After hearing her live performances on Philips of the Rachmoninoff 3rd and Tschikowsky's 1st there is little doubt in my mind that she is one of the outstanding pianists of our time. Her live performance a few years back of the Strauss Berlesque with the Berlin Philharmonic was stunning and left no doubt in my mind to that claim.

It is a rare combination to see one who is not only a great pianist but a great musician as well. It is almost like she has an uncanny feeling for this music.

Dutoit does a good job with the Orchestre du Montreal as always. Can we hope that Dutoit and Argerich will re-unite and make more recordings like this? (Interestingly enough both recorded for Polygram - DG and British Decca. Now they seem to have moved to EMI).

With so many excellent recordings now available of these two works this recording remains my first choice at the present time for recent releases.

I usually like both Argerich and Dutoit, but EMI has not done either of them justice, and to me, Argerich sounds less involved than in other recordings. The real drawback, though, is the sound. Decca provided Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony with clear, open sound that made their recordings enjoyable. To me, EMI's sound here is indistinct, bordering on muddy at times. Orchestral detail is lost, and on a couple of occasions the piano just disappears behind the orchestra. I bought this recording expecting something special, but was quite disappointed.

Martha Argerich has been known for an uncanny technique that is married to an unusually expressive style. Chopin, known for his improvisations, is best served by someone whose pianism and imagination match the spontaneity and singing of his music. Add the extreme beauty of the playing in the slow movements and in the ornamentated passages of these concertos and you have a very rare treat with these performances.

The two piano concerti by Chopin have been staples of the concert hall for many years. However, this is only the second recordings of these concerti by Martha Argerich. Ms. Argerich summons up all of the poetry and pathos that has made Chopin's concertos so popular over the years. She is ably supported by Charles Dutoit and the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal, who fulfil their role as accompaniment well and even manage a bit of acceleration in the Second concerto (first movement) almost as if to catch Ms. Argerich by surprise. Having had the pleasure of hearing Ms. Argerich play the Beethoven Second concerto in person, I know she can drive the concerto along. So here the orchestra gets a turn. When this disc was reviewed by Gramophone the comment was made that it seemed less a studio recording than a relaxed concert performance. I would agree. The concertos come of as the luxuriously tuneful works that they are with brilliant keyboard work by Martha Argerich. This recording is among the best of Chopin's concertos and I highly recommend it.

Martha Argerich, winner of the 1965 Chopin Competition, has re-recorded the Chopin Piano Concerti from a mature and masterful perspective. She has lived with the concerti for 35-plus years, and every phrase is turned with jewel-like precision. These are Chopin performances to make virtuosi, indeed all Chopin interpreters, take notice and weep with joy. Compared to her fiery earlier recordings of these works, the new interpretations strike much closer to the composer's intentions and scores. After these recordings, others pale by comparison.

I really loved her previous recordings of these concertos, but I'm disappointed with this new recording in spite of beatiful sound quality, because she is not quite inspired and highly-charged here, I think. Her interpretation itself is, almost surprisingly, staying the same as before, though.

If you would like to hear her Chopin concertos at her best, buy her recording from DG (No.1 with Abbado & No.2 with Rostropovich) or DENON (No.1; live performance at Chopin International Piano Competition).

I love Chopin's 2 concerti. I have listened to these 2 masterpieces from different pianists (Argerich, Blechacz, Pollini, Yundi Li, Perahia), and I think they're all great. When I heard Argerich's version, I had to say I like it the most.
I can't get too logical in describing why this is the best version I've ever heard, but while listening to her playing I felt like all the techniques and emotions were perfectly blended and balanced.

Sometimes we enjoy good music, we appreciate the techniques or the emotions from the artists, but we can also isolate some parts that we thought that didn't make a surprising impact to our ears. I guess I just couldn't find any of those in Argerich's playing; I was deeply impressed in every second of her performance.

One expects Argerich to be commanding in almost everything she chooses to record, but there are occasions when she surpasses herself. I think she does that here, for several reasons. First and most important, she accepts Chopin's invitation to explore the fantasy of the solo part. Even great pianists sometimes fall into a Chopin "style" that dictates the mood and flow of their playing, but here Argerich displays complete freedom -- her spontaneity comes from complete confidence in her own instincts. She plays every bar unlike anyone else, using the printed score as a jumping-off place for a long, uninterrupted rhapsody. She also has total confidence in her technique, and unlike pianists who plan in advance to show off their very soft and very loud playing (as Lang Lang does in his recent, rather impressive account of Concerto No. 2 on DG), Argerich makes no overt display of her technique for its own sake. As a result, we keep following her ideas and feelings closely, undistracted by showmanship. There are actually more sparkling accounts of both concertos, but none that "speak" through the music as she does.

Finally, there's Dutoit, who always seems to rise to the occasion when accompanying Argerich. The orchestral parts of these concertos are basic to the point of being rudimentary, which tempts man conductors to coast. Rather than simply laying down a cushion for his soloist, Dutoit actually tries to find real music in the orchestral part. He's flexible and supple in his beat, and one honestly hears a collaboration -- admittedly, Argerich is far and away the dominant partner, but Dutoit deserves credit for his contribution. His Montreal musicians perform with discretion and elegance. EMI's sound for both piano and orchestra is no better than ordinary.

Any drawbacks? The only one I can think of is that Argerich is so personal in her interpretation that some listeners might wish for more "normal" Chopin styling a la Rubeinstein or Ax, both of whom are much less individual, even idiosyncratic, than Argerich. But if you love to hear music not just played but recreated on the spot, this is a marvelous example.

P.S. -- I won't offer detailed comparisons, but I agree with the amazon reviewer that Argerich's early versions of both concertos on DG are more passionate, direct, and impetuous.

The two piano concertos written by Chopin (in his Polish youth) are perfect vehicles for sparkling virtuosity and keyboard bravura, once their melodic and harmonic beauty are grasped. Of course, the piano is the absolute star, all the orchestral elements being set to feature the soloist instrument and gravitate around it, to highlight its voice so inspired conceived by the composer (at that time leaving his beloved Warsaw for a never-ending exile).

In order to get more than a school level reading of the concertos, this calls for a pianist with outstanding skills and special sensitivity, since the mixture of emotional feelings and boldly affirming passages require more than a simple empathy on the interpreter side.

The artistry of Martha Argerich (winner of the prestigious Chopin contest in Warsaw in 1965) has all the necessary ingredients to tackle such peaks of the repertory with great success and unfailing authenticity. And so she does in this recording (dating from 1998), probing the deepest musical resources of the score with a flawless technique and unswerving sense of phrase, with measured lyricism and dazzling bravura where required, professing an intelligent rubato and an inspired care for the sound quality throughout. Be amazed - for instance - by the elegant rolling of notes in that superb Larghetto of the F minor Concerto or the energetic outbursts in the first movement of the E minor concerto. Simply hair rising!

The recorded version signed by the unmatched Martha Argerich was achieved in a fruitful partnership with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit and was intended (I suppose) as an affectionate homage to Chopin, whose 150th death commemoration took place in 1999 when the CD was actually released. It is fully rewarding, both on musical and technical level, and I dare say it can be considered a cornerstone in the recording catalogue of these works.

Martha Argerich's performances of both concerti are spellbinding, incredible displays of passion. Her technical skills at the keyboard are absolutely phenomenal too. Indeed, I doubt I have heard her play these Chopin concertos as skillfully as she does here. However, Dutoit comes across as a somewhat reluctant accompanist, in awe with her performances. He doesn't quite lead the Montrealers in brilliant performances of the orchestral scores. Still, this deserves my strong recommendation as one of the finest recordings of Chopin's piano concertos, if only because of Argerich's superb performances.