What were Barenboim and Argerich up to?

Hywel David says:

From The Sunday Times 21 August 2016 – Hugh Canning’s review

“The West-Eastern’s second concert – repeated at the Proms last Wednesday – found Barenboim on more familiar territory; Widmann’s concert overture ‘Con brio’, served as a striking opener for ‘bleeding chunks’ of orchestral Wagner and Liszt’s Piano Concerto No 1, in which he was joined by his old sparring partner and compatriot Martha Argerich as soloist. Argerich has just turned 75, but her commanding technique and musical spontaneity are still miraculously intact, the muscularity of her arms and fingers those of a much younger person. Her Liszt is formidable yet almost improvisatory in the lyrical passages: she brings extraordinary flexibility of phrasing and rhythmic freedom to these without sacrificing momentum.

Arguably the world’s most charismatic woman in music, Argerich is a Garbo in reverse: a one-off who no longer wants to be alone. Indeed, she has virtually stopped playing solo works, even in her encores. She and Barenboim joined forces at the piano for one of Schubert’s four-hand Rondo duets. It was a piece of Hausmusik, friends playing with each other for their mutual pleasure, and deeply touching.”