This DVD captures to Mrs. Argerich in absolute plenitude of her overpowered gifts with a variegated program. Alexander Rabinovitch demonstrates his persuasive temperament as conductor, making a terrific version about Prokoviev's Classical Symphony Op. 25. Then, soloist and orchestra performed an electrifying version of Prokoviev's First Piano Concerto, filled and hovered of that mercurial display of eruptive fierceness and sheer lyricism. Then came the performance of Schumann's Violin Sonata,... more info
The music critics are correct:
Martha Argerich 2005 performance with the Flanders Symphony
in which she played by herself, accompanied a violinst and
was the pianst in the Beethoven Triple. Demonstrated to me that the critics who state that Martha is the greatest pianst for the
20 and 21 century.
Let's be honest:
I'll get right to the point. The orchestra is so atrocious as to make this DVD almost unlistenable. If you want to see a performance of the Schumann sonata, perhaps this is for you. But be warned. If you can get through the Triple Concerto without cringing, you are a better man than I. The Prokofiev? A student work by a second-rate composer, performed by a third-rate orchestra. Gee, does it get any better than that? Even the redoubtable Argerich can't rescue this disaster.
Another Outstanding Argerich Performance:
While I agree with the previous reviewer (M.G.) that this is a marvelous DVD, I had some trouble getting past all his hagiographic gushing about Martha Argerich, larded as it is with superlatives. Admittedly she is an amazingly talented pianist, certainly among the greatest of our age, but his claims for her abilities -- 'perhaps (the greatest) of all time' -- seems over the top. Has he ever heard Liszt, Alkan, Thalberg, Busoni, or Godowsky, or whoever play? One notices also that in his review he doesn't... more info
![A Piano Evening with Martha Argerich [DVD Video]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51OCon4jk1L.jpg)
