Majoring in the minor: Jansen, Maisky and Argerich at the Barbican

By Matthew Rye, 07 February 2018

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“a turbulent, risk-taking, edge-of-seat interpretation”

Reviewed at Barbican Hall, London on 6 February 2018

Beethoven, Cello Sonata no. 2 in G minor, Op.5 no.2

Shostakovich, Piano Trio no. 2 in E minor, Op.67

Schumann, Violin Sonata no. 1 in A minor, Op.105

Mendelssohn, Piano Trio no. 1 in D minor, Op.49

Schumann, 4 Fantasiestücke in A minor, for violin, cello and piano, Op.88 (Duett)

Janine Jansen, Violin

Mischa Maisky, Cello

Martha Argerich, Piano

Argerich, Maisky and the elixir of youth

Mark Pullinger, 6th February

Martha Argerich and Mischa Maisky's duo recital at Wigmore Hall turns into a trio... and offers the London audience a rare opportunity to hear the Argentinian pianist play solo.

****1

Sinning on a Sunday: Argerich, Mehta and the Vienna Philharmonic

Chanda VanderHart, 17th March

In the sacred golden temple that is the Musikverein, Martha Argerich plays Ravel's saucy Piano Concerto in G major, before the Philharmoniker and Zubin Mehta play Bruckner's Seventh Symphony.

****1

Stars, slapstick and soul: Martha Argerich joins the Rotterdam Phil

Eleanor Knight, 28th September

Soaring choral music precedes the arrival of Martha Argerich for a daredevil account of Shostakovich's First Piano Concerto with RPhO Principal Trumpet, Alex Elia.

*****

Argerich and Dutoit demonstrate that vitality is ageless

Edward Sava-Segal, 18th September

Martha Argerich returns to the Enescu Festival for one of the pillars of her repertory, Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto, in a buoyant performance.

***11

Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and Martha Argerich in Évian

David Karlin, 2nd July

Argerich shows her full artistry, while Europe's young musicians show impressive coordination and dynamics, if short of emotion in Beethoven 7.

****1

Clumsy Liszt, listless Berlioz from Barenboim and the Staatskapelle

Mark Pullinger, 7th March

Some conductors get better with age, ripening like fine wines, but age wearies others. Daniel Barenboim’s decline is difficult to bear.

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Matthew Rye

Matthew read music at Oxford and worked in music journalism for 30 years as a writer, critic and editor. He wrote numerous programme and CD booklet notes, spent 13 years as a Daily Telegraph critic, worked at BBC Music Magazine and was reviews editor of The Strad. He also wrote for The Wagner Journal and Opera and blogged at ferneklang.blogspot.co.uk. He was general editor of 1001 Classical Recordings You Must Hear Before You Die (Cassell Illustrated, 2007) and was the author of a new series of eBooks, Masterpieces of Music (Erudition).