Martha Argerich takes night off to study new piece
NewsThe 80 year-old pianists has pulled out of tonight’s concert in her Hamberg festival.
That’s because she’s giving a double concert tomorrow – Bartók at 6pm and at 8.30 her first public performance of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Seasons’.
Never too late to try something new.
Actually just extracts from the Seasons. But still interesting news
https://marthaargerichconcerts.wordpress.com/author/marthaargerichconcerts/page/2/
No, the latest press release says she will pay the complete suite.
That music is now in the public domain. She needn’t pay for it, complete or partial.
Comment of the day GUEST!
It’s not the first time she has let her admirers down and I don’t approve.
Even a Goddess can bite off more than she can chew.
By this point in her
careerreign, tickets to an Argerich cancellation will be coveted by collectors in coming decades. “I just need the 2021 Hamburg cancellation for the complete set — and then I can sell it and buy a villa in Portofino.”She is the goddess, and can do what she wants. Her worshipers understand this.
Too bad Argerich & Caballe never did a joint cancellation!
Goddess? Nonsense. She’s just a very good pianist.
and a very hard working one.
Goddess in the eyes of her worshipers. I should have been clearer.
An exquisite work, and in the hands of Pletnev you could be forgiven for thinking it a pinnacle of the piano repertoire. I recall holding on to every note when he played the cycle at the Barbican in 2006.
For variety’s sake, how about a bi-monthly International Festival of Cancellations? Each participant artist would be signed up for a specified number of cancellations and would have to return artist’s fees and be sentenced to a 40-year term in prison if deciding to actually show up and perform.
Looking forward to enjoying it tonight.
It was third time lucky for me after two Argerich concerts I had booked for were cancelled, but one can’t be too upset at this stage – personally I’m grateful that she is still performing at all.
Oscar Levant and Vladimir Horowitz once bought joint ads announcing they were available for a limited number of cancellations.
Perhaps Argerich should have started learning the Tchaikovsky a few months back, rather than leave it so late.
If it wasn’t for Covid I would have travelled at great expense from the US to watch a master play the piano. This is on my bucket list. I’m no spring chicken either and to sacrifice my time and funds for a cancellation would be devastating.
Other than for legitimate reasons—e.g., illness in self or family—the idea of willful cancellations strikes me as selfish and cruel to those anticipating a memorable concert. The benefit to the canceller is dwarfed by the costs to the ticket holders, lucky enough to even have tickets.