When an unstoppable force meets an immovable object: 

To some degree, that's the only way to stay in this industry. I learned that from working as a répétiteur. Outsiders look at this like it's something exceptional, but the only way you do this consistently is if it's normal to you. There's the adrenaline and everything, but by mathematical force, half your performances are worse than your personal median, and you cannot be a regular in the industry unless a moderate off-day is good enough to sell tickets. At that point most of your performances are good enough to sell tickets, so most of your performances will be ordinary relative to you.

@@tabby7189 i never thought about it that way. I remember talking to some performers - some of them gave the best performance of their life and it set a standard to them internally. They couldn’t get over trying to top that performance or scared of not being able to play near as good and it was the demise of them. Some actually stopped performing because they couldn’t get over that hump. Kinda crazy when I think about it. But if they approach their performance like how you described, then that’s one way to address that issue or not even become one to begin with.

In the ending she stands up with an expression like she was being impressed what she just performed. Not a normal day at the job ...

She's just amazing.

The older I get, the more I appreciate this woman’s incredible musicianship and command of her instrument.

That's the beauty of her...

She reached her level cap a long time ago!

@@BleedandRise Argerich in the 70s and 80s was unbelievable. She's still very good now, but she was even better when she was younger

you're lucky

I find this an important observation that each ephemeral playing was so individual.

I think of it as a mad circus... and the Merry go Round is doing cray stuff...

I've never been in a witch's house. Can you elaborate?

It’s my favorite piano concerto of all time, if you know or any that sounds remotely as good as this please let me know because I have yet to find one

@@mariamooooooProkofiev 2 is better

Haha, not wrong! Bartok does the same thing, only he wraps up even more quickly.

Actually, she is the greatest pianist alive.

Come on Jeff! Not True! More colorful beautiful piano sound than Argerich=Wilhelm Kempff Emil Gilels Artur Runinstein Radu Lupu Vladimir Ashkenazy! More powerful louder Mikhail Pletnev! The second loudest was Lazar Berman! More genius than Argerich=Sviatoslav Richter Solomon Cutner Grigory Sokolov Maurizio Pollini Alexei Lubimov Stanislav Igolinski! Argerich not had the best piano sound! Argerich not the best genius! Argerich not the most powerful!

@@RaineriHakkarainen certainly true for me and many others, even if not for you.

@@RaineriHakkarainen Half of these names aren't fit to mix a cocktail for Martha. Get real.

@@RaineriHakkarainen tossing horowitz into the mix tells me you most likely just googled "best concert pianists". horowitz is massively overrated and everyone knows it

@@RaineriHakkarainen Just put a video of other pianist playing Prokofieff like Martha Argerich, and i will believe you all that you say.

She’s still in her prime, just heard her yesterday live in Prague playing Shostakovich 1st concerto, unbelievable!

@@Viktorvelat95 I heard her playing this same piano concerto a month ago in Buenos Aires....unbelievable!!!

She’s always in her prime since she was 8!

K...listen to Lang Lang idiot

Queen of shallow playing. Educate yourself sometimes.

@@Alix777. Does speed strike you as a quality of depth? Take a course in etiquette.

@@Alix777. So playing fast is being shallow?

Indeed

and everyone else who plays it is a piker because they're notlame-o liberals?

"Play drunk")))

Except that to my knowledge (and if anyone knows otherwise, please correct me), NO ONE plays those passages as written! Rather, they're played as glissandi. The sound is virtually the same, and it's a helluva lot easier than trying to place your fingers on the cracks between notes so each finger can play two notes!

@@cufflink44 Argerich plays them as scales here, at least from what I could tell at around 0:25

@@cufflink44 Yes, many pianists play the scales as glissandi, but it’s sort of “cheating.” Most of the mega virtuosos try to take the scales head-on like Argerich.

All you have to do is go to the settings icon in the upper right hand corner of the video, select “Playback Speed,” and go as slow as you wanna go! Just remember to turn the volume down, unless you like to hear the distortions.

Prokofiev 3rd piano concerto III Mvt

I really cannot figure out what pianists are actually doing in those two passages.

@michaelowens5394 Yes, you can't almost comprehend what concert pianists do to this part, some unconventional. But Argerich, for me, makes complete sense, and a lot of pianists could've also done this since she quickly swaps every two to four sixteenth notes, and so on. Although I use it myself, but from experience it's a straining technique for hands less than a span of a tenth, such as myself, because you would have to anticipate your left hand immediately a few notes before every time you go to that accented downbeat. This technique would be better for curved fingers (as what she does in the video) because otherwise, you wouldn't understand what the pianist is playing while listening to it, and will most likely sound more like a glissando than an arpeggio of simultaneous continuous notes and intervals of seconds. Another thing I do to this part is rather than swapping back and forth, the left hand starts with the first three sixteenth notes of the arpeggio, then proceeding to the right hand, and the right hand plays everything else, then the downbeat accent with the left hand again, and then vice versa. Literally anything can be done with this part, as long as it's comfortable for the player, even if it looks unconventional.

Which arpeggios are you referring to?

Prokofiev 3

@@scarbo2229 I should have known. Only he possesses that level of demonic maniacal glee. Lol

Martha is the unstoppable force, the piece is the immovable object for how difficult it is

Perhaps this is just a visual interpretation of the music

@@bibanez135 I think by unmovable object he’s referring to the piano

@@francesco7649 nah

The force is Martha yes and I believe a better word would be an “untouchable object” referring to the difficulty of the piece

I'm not sure she plays the written notes exactly...but it doesn't matter since no one can hear the difference at that speed and with the orchestra accompaniment. However, if you really want to play it perfectly as written, I experimented a while ago and it's doable if you play two arpeggios in thirds at the same time with both hands (so e.g. LH plays D-F-A-C while RH plays E-G-B-D). Using this method I was able to get it quite accurate and fast.

You can look on my channel if you want to know how she plays those scales

@@Magnet12 except that you play it slow and sped it up or simply used a computer program. Nice try 😉

Apparently someone asked her after a concert and she told them this: (L R L R) 5-32-1 12-34 43-21 12-34-5 I think it sounds great

@@cupy80 shut up😂what are you talking about

The piece obviously

Your wife is the immovable object

The conductor is Andre Previn. I believe the year is 1977.

@Dana Because RU-vid would probably take it down?

She’s never recorded it, that I’ve seen.

Disagree. I think Martha has him beat. Just,y opinion.

@@drrabner47 Funny that you think she has Horowitz beat when she says he was the greatest pianist in history.

@@GnomicMaster it would most unlike her to declare herself the best. Again, it was my opinion.

@@drrabner47 If that is your stab at humor you have no future in comedy.

@@GnomicMaster Sorry. I stick by what I said. Martha, in my opinion, has him beat.

people ignore it because it’s just that - a common, understandable mistake in the extremely difficult coda. the tempo mismatch you speak of is barely noticeable unless you really try to listen out for it, which most people aren’t.

A tempo mismatch can sound exciting and spontaneous; another reason why I love live recordings.

Well, it’s your opinion, so it’s right to you! “Electronic music” covers a lot of territory, so I wouldn’t throw it all out. Anyway, our own preferences shouldn’t deprive others of the music they like to listen to….I can believe that a lot of people on RU-vid wouldn’t think this was utter compositional and performance genius….they would probably say it’s an ugly cacophony. If we want our opinions to be respected, then we have to extend the same courtesy to others.

I will notice, as will many who know the piece.

Horowitz said there were three kinds of pianists: Jewish pianists, homosexual pianists, and bad pianists.

@@bobschaaf2549 Subtle flex by him, given he was gay and Jewish lol

​@@bobschaaf2549 Hey I'm offended. Or does Christian count as Jewish?

Or perhaps he is doing it in cycles and more pianists are coming with their own cycle in his channel?

@@yafetpalomeque75 There aren't pianists like Martha

Come on Maria Almeida! Not true! More colorful beautiful piano sound than Argerich=Wilhelm Kempff Emil Gilels Artur Rubinstein Radu Lupu Vladimir Ashkenazy! More powerful louder than Argerich=Mikhail Pletnev( Prokofiev piano concerto no 1 by Pletnev!) The second loudest was Lazar Berman! More genius than Argerich=Sviatoslav Richter Solomon Cutner Grigory Sokolov Maurizio Pollini Alexei Lubimov Stanislav Igolinski! Rosa Tamarkina played faster and more power already years 1937-1948!