Martha Argerich and Friends (Nicolas Economou, Mischa Maisky, Nelson Freire) Live 1982 / DVD [Re-UP]

Classical music aficionados are in for a treat with this rare filmed performance by acclaimed pianist Martha Argerich. This recording of Agerich's 1982 concert (Munich Piano Summer) features 12 pieces, including works from Mozart, Schuman, Ravel and Rachmaninov. Argerich also performs a number of duets with the aid of talented guest performers such as Mischa Maisky, Nicolas Economou and Nelson Freire. Biographies of the performers are included as on-screen liner notes.

This collaborative recital opens with Mozart's Piano Sonata for Four Hands in D Major (K. 381), with Argerich on secondo and Cypriot pianist Nicolas Economou (1953-1993) on the primo part. Economou does his best to keep up with Argerich in a pleasing performance, with a few missed notes here and there. It is then cellist Mischa Maisky's turn, with Argerich at the piano for Schumann's Phanatasiestücke, op. 73. Maisky, looking 80s enough to be a member of Air Supply, gives an impassioned but not very precise performance.

What really makes this DVD worthwhile are the last two selections, works for two pianos, with Martha Argerich seated across back-to-back Steinways from Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire. This was the first time I had ever heard Rachmaninov's Suite for Two Pianos (op. 17, no. 2), and the wave of post-Romantic revulsion his music normally inspires did not overwhelm me. Plus, if you think Rachmaninov wrote for large and challenging sounds with just one piano, with two pianos he is like a kid in a candy shop. Freire and Argerich get almost all those notes and turn in a beautifully shaped and textured performance. In the stunning last movement, Argerich tosses off the repeated-note motifs, at breakneck speed, with awe-inspiring facility. Freire has his own confrontation with those patterns and does equally well.

Tracks:
Mozart - Piano Sonata for four hands in D major K381 (with Nicolas Economou)
Schumann - Phantasiestucke Op73 / 1-3 (with Mischa Maisky)
Rachmaninov - Suite for two pianos 2 Op17 (with Nelson Freire)
Ravel - La Valse (with Nelson Freire)








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