DVD : Martha Argerich, Evening Talks

Rating: - Superlative
Guchot's documentary is about Martha Argerich's oneness with the music she plays. We knew it existed already from hearing her performances. Here she articulates it in ways that are candid, joyful, earthy, and most eloquent in her charming manner. She is never pedantic. These conversations reveal the deeply personal and dynamic relationship with her art and the composers who make it happen. Only such humility and integrity, and perhaps a fundamentally iron will, can make her transcendental technique soar in interpretations which have been prodigious and unsurpassed in my concert-going life. Perhaps film gives us a glimpse about a way of being one wish one could achieve. Most tellingly, it is not about the applause, which seems immaterial and irrelevant when dealing with an artist of this caliber (indeed, it is more a release for the audience than a nutrient for a performer in this class..... though they all probably love it). The joy is in the playing. It is all about living the music.

This is a unique dvd. Not quite an interview, rather she talks about her music, playing with others, the personal way she has of relating to the composers she performs...... when performing Lizst and Chopin in the same evening she must make sure to play them equally as true to themselves so one won't be jealous of the other. I truly understand her respect and love for Schumann as I totally identify with it. In her casual conversation, these ideas make music a living thing and one gets a glimpse of Argerich's total dedication to her art. This is indeed Martha Argerich conversing about how and why she is a pianist and one gets the information not from a script but from seemingly extemporaneous comments, from body language, indeed from aptly inserted performance footage, including youngster Argerich. Very little biographical information is included, only what surfaces in context of discussions of her music making. This is fine, perhaps even welcomed. The only regret I have is that the documentary goes by too quickly. We are getting glimpses of this dear and revered lady's musical soul and one wants to hold on.

There are some wonderful performances attached as bonus. Particularly beautiful and exciting are her encores from a concert in Switzerland (Scarlatti, Chopin, Bach), and the 2 piano version of Lutoslawski Paganini Variations performed by Argerich and the wonderful Mauricio Vallina.

Interspersed at convenient intervals throughout the film, there are scenes of Buenos Aires and the Argentine country side that without taking the narrative anywhere, nonetheless add dimension to the discussion. Conversation seemlessly flows back and forth from mostly French, to English with some German and a little Spanish thrown in. The film is well subtitled.

Argerich as an artist has always brought me great pleasure and solace. She has nurtured up-and-coming talent like no other. There is no pianist like her and I feel lucky to have been living in her time. One is always waiting for the opportunity to say "Thank you," so let this, even if far removed, be one such.

Strongly recommended, indispensible for all lovers of music for the piano.

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Rating: - Argerich Talks and Plays
Martha Argerich, for many of us, has long been an enigma. She has always been a private person, one who does not seek the spotlight, who even cancels performances because, it is said, of nervousness, shyness. Filmmaker Georges Gachot, after years of entreaties, gets her to agree, to speak with him on camera. She comes across as a soft-spoken, shy, immensely intelligent but often cryptic person, one who has idiosyncratic but attractive ideas about her relationships with composers and various pieces of music. For instance, she will not play the Beethoven Fourth Concerto because she is afraid of 'what might happen', this after talking about the galvanic emotional effect it has had on her ever since she heard Claudio Arrau play it when she was six.

Interleaved with Gachot's and Argerich's low-key but very revealing conversations are many clips of Argerich rehearsing and playing, primarily with orchestra or with other pianists. There are seventeen clips of her playing music ranging from an incandescent Capriccio from Bach's Second Partita to a two-piano and percussion arrangement of Piazzolla's Libertango. She is shown, in a long clip, rehearsing the Schumann Concerto with Jörg Faerber and the Wurttemburg Chamber Orchestra. There is a blistering finale of the Ravel G Major Concerto (with Charles Dutoit conducting). There are clips from her 1965 Chopin Competition win and a marvelous performance of Lutoslawski's two-piano Paganini Variations with Mauricio Vallina. And a short bit from the Teatro Colón with fellow South American Nelson Freire in the piano four-hand 'Laideronette' from the Mother Goose Suite of Ravel. Riches, indeed.

Although most of the music contained in the documentary is excerpted, there is a bonus that includes full performances of the Bach Capriccio, Schumann Concerto, two Piazzolla pieces, a sensational Scarlatti sonata (D Minor, K141) and a Chopin Mazurka (F Minor, Op. 63, No. 2).

Argerich's fabled technique is in plentiful supply throughout, but even more is her highly personal way with all the works she plays. She is clearly one of a kind and it is no wonder she has fanatical admirers the world over. I suspect they are snapping this DVD up. And if you know or want to know Argerich's playing, you will, too.

Highest recommendation.

Total Time: Documentary - 63 mins; Bonus - 38 mins; Sound: PCM Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1; Format: NTSC 16:9; Spoken languages: French, English, German; Subtitles: French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese; Region Code: 0 (worldwide)

Scott Morrison