Happy birthday Martha!
Born on June 5, 1941 in Buenos Aires, Martha Argerich is without doubt one of the world’s most celebrated pianists. Above and beyond her exceptional gifts, she fascinates by her personality, made up of authenticity and, above all, freedom. She doesn’t like signing contracts years in advance!
A child prodigy, Martha began playing the piano at the age of two and a half, and later took lessons from Vincenzo Scaramuzza. Gifted with an extraordinary memory and dazzling technique, she was quick to assimilate scores and gave her first concerts at the age of 9. In 1955, the Argerich family emigrated to Europe. Thanks to a grant from the Argentine government, Martha continued her studies with Friedrich Gulda. She perfected her skills with Madeleine Lipatti, Nikita Magaloff and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, among others.
Between 1961 and 1965, she decided to stop everything and simply “live”, as an artist’s life of obligations and hard work did not correspond to her aspirations as a young girl. However, she got back into the swing of things, and in 1965 won the Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw. Her international career was launched, and she was invited by the greatest conductors to perform in prestigious concert halls. Her preferred repertoire ranges from the Romantic to the most contemporary composers. Concertos by Chopin, Schumann, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Ravel frequently feature in her programs. In her early years, her natural ardor sometimes led her to take tempi that were a little too fast. Time has mellowed Martha somewhat, however, and her technique and sense of interpretation have deepened. ” Fingers of fire, fingers of love: at the turn of a phrase, this touch releases sublime softness. And over the years, she has refined her palette even further. “
Martha Argerich only plays what she likes, and regularly repeats the same works. Even if she knows them by heart, “her pleasure is to play, not to ‘replay’”. A stalker, she dislikes being alone on stage, which is why she is particularly fond of chamber music. She regularly collaborates with Nelson Freire, Charles Dutoit, Daniel Barenboim, Gidon Kremer, Renaud Capuçon and Misha Maisky.
After being married to Charles Dutoit between 1969 and 1973, she has been the partner of pianist Stephen Kovacevich since 1974. In the film Bloody daughter, their daughter Stéphanie takes us inside Martha and her relationship with her family.
Discover Martha Argerich in the music collections of the Riponne site with nearly 80 documents to choose from !
Find out more:
- Medici.tv offers several concerts with Martha Argerich as well as 2 documentaries: La magie de Martha en 80 minutes… and Bloody daughter. (Access on BCUL public stations or remotely via crypto for UNIL members).
- Martha intime (podcasts by Olivier Bellamy for Radio Classique)
- Martha Argerich80 years and indomitable wisdom
- Cracked childhood as beautiful as a Mozart adagio
- Argerich fingering, from mother to daughter
