Martha Argerich – Martha Argerich & Friends Live at the Lugano Festival 2013 (2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Martha Argerich – Martha Argerich & Friends Live at the Lugano Festival 2013 (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 03:06:59 minutes | 1,69 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

Warner Classics is pleased to release the 11th annual 3CD set of highlights from the Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano, “the delightful festival where youth meets experience and both benefit” (Gramophone). The Times described Argerich’s Lugano Festival as “community music-making on a deluxe scale, with performers and listeners mutually uplifted by music’s wonders”. In addition to Argerich, the performers in 2013 included many familiar names from previous Live from Lugano releases. Among the performers who took part in the series for the first time are the violinist and Queen Elisabeth Competition winner Andrey Baranov and the pianists Thomás Alegre, Alessandro Mazzamuto, Maria Meerovitch.

Martha Argerich’s ever-widening circle of friends means that these annual compilations of music recorded live at her festival in Lugano invariably introduce us to young artists whom she regards highly and who, for that very reason, excite interest. Some (such as the violinist and cellist brothers Renaud and Gautier Capuçon) are known to a wider audience, others not.

Here, for example, Argerich is joined by the Romanian pianist Cristina Marton for a delightful, affectionate, limpid performance of Debussy’s four-hand Petite Suite, followed by a riotous sequence of pieces from Offenbach’s Gaîté Parisienne played on three pianos by the brilliant young Italians Giorgia Tomassi, Carlo Maria Griguoli and Alessandro Stella. This alone is something to lift the spirits sky high.

But a key ingredient of this set’s appeal is that the variety of artists is matched by a variety in the music they play. On the same disc, Ravel’s early Violin Sonata of 1897, published only posthumously in 1975, is given a rapt performance by the Russian violinist Andrey Baranov and the Russian-born pianist Jura Margulis, identifying as they do the boldness of the one-movement sonata’s approach to harmony and the way in which Ravel’s distinctive creative personality is beginning to emerge from its chrysalis. This is an interpretation truly to treasure, as indeed are the two sonatas on the second disc. Here Renaud Capuçon teams up with Francesco Piemontesi for Respighi’s gorgeous Violin Sonata of 1916-17, and Gautier Capuçon is joined by the Venezuelan-born Gabriela Montero for a deeply felt performance of Shostakovich’s D minor Cello Sonata.

Argerich herself heads the venture in a characteristically vital, lucid, poised account of Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana and, with Mischa Maisky, a deeply thought performance of Beethoven’s G minor Cello Sonata Op 5 No 2. This set is a showcase for superlative musicianship, crowned at the end by Argerich and a host of friends coming together for a Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals of irresistible zoomorphic wit and charm.

Tracklist:
1. Martha Argerich – Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15: I. Allegro con brio (14:35)
2. Martha Argerich – Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15: II. Largo (11:04)
3. Martha Argerich – Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15: III. Rondo – Allegro scherzando (09:12)
4. Martha Argerich – Beethoven: Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 5 No. 2: I. Adagio sostenuto ed espressivo (05:18)
5. Martha Argerich – Beethoven: Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 5 No. 2: II. Allegro molto, piu tosto presto (09:58)
6. Martha Argerich – Beethoven: Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 5 No. 2: III. Rondo – Allegro (08:10)
7. Martha Argerich – Respighi: Violin Sonata in B Minor, P. 110: I. Moderato (08:37)
8. Martha Argerich – Respighi: Violin Sonata in B Minor, P. 110: II. Andante espressivo (09:15)
9. Martha Argerich – Respighi: Violin Sonata in B Minor, P. 110: III. Passacaglia – Allegro moderato, ma energico (07:34)
10. Martha Argerich – Liszt: La lugubre gondola, S. 134 (07:52)
11. Martha Argerich – Shostakovich: Cello Sonata in D Minor, Op. 40: I. Allegro non troppo (12:00)
12. Martha Argerich – Shostakovich: Cello Sonata in D Minor, Op. 40: II. Allegro (03:18)
13. Martha Argerich – Shostakovich: Cello Sonata in D Minor, Op. 40: III. Largo (09:16)
14. Martha Argerich – Shostakovich: Cello Sonata in D Minor, Op. 40: IV. Allegro (04:38)
15. Martha Argerich – Ravel: Violin Sonata, Op. posth. M. 77 (16:23)
16. Martha Argerich – Debussy: Petite suite, L. 65: I. En bateau (03:32)
17. Martha Argerich – Debussy: Petite suite, L. 65: II. Cortege (03:04)
18. Martha Argerich – Debussy: Petite suite, L. 65: III. Menuet (03:01)
19. Martha Argerich – Debussy: Petite suite, L. 65: IV. Ballet (03:41)
20. Martha Argerich – Offenbach / Arr. Rosenthal & Griguoli: Gaite parisienne: I. Ouverture (02:11)
21. Martha Argerich – Offenbach / Arr. Rosenthal & Griguoli: Gaite parisienne: II. Galop (01:00)
22. Martha Argerich – Offenbach / Arr. Rosenthal & Griguoli: Gaite parisienne: III. Barcarolle (02:51)
23. Martha Argerich – Offenbach / Arr. Rosenthal & Griguoli: Gaite parisienne: IV. Cancan (04:28)
24. Martha Argerich – Saint-Saens: Le Carnaval des animaux: I. Marche royale du lion (02:19)
25. Martha Argerich – Saint-Saens: Le Carnaval des animaux: II. Poules et coqs (00:43)
26. Martha Argerich – Saint-Saens: Le Carnaval des animaux: III. Hemiones (00:33)
27. Martha Argerich – Saint-Saens: Le Carnaval des animaux: IV. Tortues (03:25)
28. Martha Argerich – Saint-Saens: Le Carnaval des animaux: V. L’elephant (01:23)
29. Martha Argerich – Saint-Saens: Le Carnaval des animaux: VI. Kangourous (00:58)
30. Martha Argerich – Saint-Saens: Le Carnaval des animaux: VII. Aquarium (02:40)
31. Martha Argerich – Saint-Saens: Le Carnaval des animaux: VIII. Personnages a longues oreilles (00:41)
32. Martha Argerich – Saint-Saens: Le Carnaval des animaux: IX. Le coucou au fond des bois (02:36)
33. Martha Argerich – Saint-Saens: Le Carnaval des animaux: X. Voliere (01:20)
34. Martha Argerich – Saint-Saens: Le Carnaval des animaux: XI. Pianistes (01:36)
35. Martha Argerich – Saint-Saens: Le Carnaval des animaux: XII. Fossilles (01:22)
36. Martha Argerich – Saint-Saens: Le Carnaval des animaux: XIII. Le cygne (04:04)
37. Martha Argerich – Saint-Saens: Le Carnaval des animaux: XIV. Finale (02:21)

Personnel:
Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven, Ottorino Respighi, Franz Liszt, Dmitri Shostakovich, …
Performer: Martha Argerich, Mischa Maisky, Renaud Capuçon, Francesco Piemontesi, …
Conductor: Hubert Soudant
Orchestra/Ensemble: Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana

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