I was fortunate enough to attend this recital of hers. It was absolutely electrifying and historic. Bless this woman for sharing her tremendous ability with the world.
It was: Partita No 2 Bach Chopin Barcarolle and Scherzo No 3 in Sharp minor... and This Prokofiev Sonata... anything else...??? encores??? wish I could have been there!
Why do people hate this performance so? It has a ton of forward momentum, but Argerich is in total control, the narrative arc is soundly intact, there's a ton of little details she brings out, it's suitably paced even at the tempo she takes with a huge dynamic range. I can understand not being able to hear through the recording, but jeez.
Omg. I don't thing there will ever be spoken language that is sufficient enough to encompass what this very interpretation means. One in a life time event
All you Sunday school piano teachers here who find smth to complain about, you don't understand MUSIC! This performance is breathtaking, passionate, brillant! Greatest pianist ever!
Yes, it's brilliant. Does that mean one cannot object to anything in it?, Oh I see, that would mean one didn't understand music. Or, rather, music in all caps, which presumably means real music. because, you see, music is all about passion, and if I feel passionate about it, and write it in all capital letters, I understand it. And there are just no other possibilities, are there? If you hold anything in reserve you are an enemy of MUSIC.
Music mom you are so right Martha is a wonderful pianist! They always hammer on her speed, and they have a right to voice their opinion, but, a pianist cant satisfy every listener's private taste! I agree with Josef Lhevinne about speed!
For all you professional critics, you might consider this: when you're in Martha's class, YOU get to decide how to play it. If not, just try to enjoy what is probably, for you, an unbelievable performance.
Absolutely phenomenal performance - and phenomenal technique too. She paces the music perfectly and doesn't let it bother drag or run away from her, especially in the third movement.
Amazing , brilliant what we hear adn what she decides to voice. Argerich is a very smart woman she makes this sing all the way through we always hear each voice .This is a gem.Someone has her live at her first Carnegie hall solo performance in years.This will live in history.She used to program prof 3rd sonata their is a film . The most electric and aLIVE performer we have .Sheer stupendous.The slow movement is hypnotic.The Finale is INCREDIBLY UNBELIEVABLY CLEARAND SOOO FAST!!!!
I can't believe how fast she played it. Especially the last movement, it's so difficult to play. I would have fainted after this performance had I been there to hear it. :D
Yes, it's obviously a bit faster than many people play it. But boy, she makes it so intelligible. She makes all the tunes and lyrical bits pop out in the last movement, and despite the bad recording quality. The rhythm is perfectly clear. She doesn't even rush a little bit at the end. And such colors!
amazing.!!!. And an encore!!!! I can't believe it. I think its fine to be critical of the performance for whatever reason, but I think the fact remains that whether or not you think she plays like the teenager she was or she is a crazy genius, She pulled this out of her butt. How many people can just say, "OH I feel like playing Prokofiev 7th!" In your wildest dreams! keep on judging! I'm sure its the voice in your own head judging your own abilities!
Martha Argerich performing this Prokofiev Sonata No.7,Live in Carnegie Hall proves that she has got talent, technique and experience. Old age is not her problem.
Prokofiev lived under Stalin and the Soviet climate of paranoia, violence, and torture. Prokofiev knew about the genocide, forced relocation, and secret police. Some of his friends "disappeared." His music should scream and elicit panic, frenzy, wildness.
for those who are criticizing Argerich, your brain is just not as fast as hers. The problem is not everyone understands music they way Martha does. At least I do.
Пересмотрела многих пианистов , исполняющих 7 сонату Прокофьева. На мой скромный взгляд , только Аргерих помнит до конца , что соната называется ,, Сталинград,, !
prokofiev is maybe one of the very few composers that should be played very fast. not even chopin or liszt should be played very fast, even when they mark their pieces with 'prestissimo', 'vivace' or something like that. but prokofiev is so enjoyable this way.
OMG ... that's so incredibly fast ... I almost always much prefer the faster versions over the slower ones ... but this is almost insane! But I like it!
The Argerich around year 2000 was among the Greatests of the Greats ........ 13:24 is just unbelievable . Makes of Richter a bus driver . Women are between delicacy and obscenity . Kisses or whip . I prefer the whip .
Fritz Maisenbacher I was at this performance and it was electrifying! I’ve never experienced such electricity and excitement in a piano recital before. She is a force of nature.
@@albertlanda1146 He sounds like someone cut straight out of Nietzsche. Everyone is between delicacy and obsenity most of the time. It's hard to imagine anything less obscene than delicacy and anything less delicate than obscenity, so how on Earth would you be outside that range?
Martha Argerich is a virtuoso speed demon and the tempo as this piece opens is blistering. It makes one ask why nobody ever thought of recording Olivier reading Shakespeare and then releasing the recording at a playback speed that is 50% faster. Why do you suppose that is?
You know.... I ve ever so often read these comments about speed .... and people (who by the way have never made their names inernationally known for art reviews let alone their playing) sort of indulge themselves in shattering and crumbling these performances when in fact they just making obvious they are incapable of understanding phrasing and structure at a speed which is beyong their hearing limits. Sorry
Joachim Kaiser (who I don't always agree with) said much the same. The people most vociferously contemptuous of techical virtuosity tend to be the ones who lack it.
Her 3rd mov't here is the fastest I have ever watched. Even there is any faster, Argerich's playing still looks the MOST EFFORTLESS. Notice how her body/gestures are so quiet that she is not even struggling.. Like she is just spontaneously banging those keys.
Much as I love Argerich especially in Prokofiev, the first and second movements are far too rushed. However, the last movement is highly impressive...to play with that speed and clarity is amazing. She looks like she could play it in her sleep.
@jgesselberty: I totally agree. I would extend your observation to apply every twentieth century composer. Just look at (listen to) the many varied performances of another MF-ingly difficult composer for piano, Ravel. Some performers get the subtlety and richness in his pieces, and others obviously don't. What can you do? Appreciate, of any pianist, the great technical prowess applied, of course, but treasure those performances where the emotion and "color" of the composition are realized.
Fast or not, her performance is honest to the core. It is a tribute to what Prokofiev wrote (and of course to her understanding of what is written). The "attacca" between the 1st and the 2nd movements and the playing in the latter suggest to me a lack of patience though.
Sergei would applaud, I don't think he would be insulted. This performance is not out of context of the composition. An artist at the top of their craft,who masters someone else's composition would not set out to defame, masticate, and blasfem. Shallow minded judgement does not change an honest performance. Since this art (music) is viable only as it happens in time, as opinions are manifested, the mind (by gathering sound energy/information through one of five senses) 'thinks', then the listener misses the experience. It's not a picture, that is unchangeable. It's gone, except for a recorded representation of the original artistic expression that was genuinely mindful of Mr. Prokofiev's intentions notated in black ink by Ms. Argerich that day. Poeple, start listening to, not hearing.
Thank you for your pontificating... Pretentious to say the least. As both an Argerich and Prokofiev fan I find this performance to be unmusical. I don't believe that I'm alone here.
An excellent performance but Richter's interpretation at Carnegie Hall in 1970 blew the roof off and his encore was to play it again a bit faster. Anyone else there?
Funny, she plays similar to the older generation of pianists from the late 19th cent. Just listen to some of Rachmaninoff and Bartok's piano playing. Demoniacally fast and volatile. Let's see what speed grumps have to say about that.
Why bother bringing up "nuances" in a recording that is of such low quality? It's almost as if we're programmed to start talking about the 'lost subtleties' when we hear something performed faster than what we're used to; disregarding all other factors affecting our reception of the music.
@Eichenwald144 I sort of agree... Argerich is so impetuous in character. There is something very stubborn about her. She is almost a bit uncaring, at times I even wonder if she is trying to punish her audience. But I still love her, despite the punishment. I've never tried "rating" anyone... it serves no real purpose.
13:24 . At some particular moments , in the history or in the arts , men can be horrified and shocked how far and in which manner some women are able to go . A dimension which has not been anticipated or forecasted . Haha .... I love the smell of these reckoning days ....
@forgottenbooks - This would be because wet fish were being slapped against the wall. I was in the audience that night. I had a good seat, but it was standing room only for the dock workers.
Sokolov shows how it should be played. Argerich is an amazing artist, that cannot be denied. I just think that often with Prokofiev, interpreters dwell a little too much on the technical precision and almost mechanical soundscape that he creates and the nuances within are missed.
Not concerned with color? She's throwing bucketfuls of Dutch Boy red and Benjamin Moore all over the goddamn wall, and you're saying "doesn't create much color, does she?" Sorry, but this movement is meant to be played with verve and tautness, not nuance. But she DOES play with color - stark, PRIMARY, colors!
@meneltar are you kidding me? The music is too fast for the majority of people to appreciate the nuances of what Prokofiev wrote, and the depth of sound is made an almost blur by the amount of pedal she uses? Plus the tone is produced without control, especially in the octave passage in the bass, which concedes the work as a bombastic octave march when it is actually a refined, disciplined work of art. This is Argerich showing off, and forgetting about what the music is all about.
