Chopin Ballade No 1 by Martha Argerich

You made it sound like that musicians shouldn't have a goal in mind when they are playing and shouldn't respect the composer's style and the piece's purpose. Argerich played this ballade BEAUTIFULLY. She made her music flow like a story(a heroic one indeed) and told it as honestly as imaginable. This is Argerich's soul speaking, so stop all the criticizes!

Excuse me, the reason Argerich is so well known is because she can play in the moment. We all know these piecesand have figured out various ways to play them. Her chord playing here her constant focus of melody. Her playing is alive here but it is not full of the surprises in phrasing. Here she seems deliberate as if she knows what her aims are. Gorgeous . I think she is trying to always respect a certain idea of how chopin style. Amajor sect seems too big .But who am i ?

...ok? And Martha hasn't taken over that title. We all know that. She is amazing, and definitely a godsend. But, she does not take over the reigns as the greatest pianist ever by a long shot.

All I know is that not very many pianists can play at such an incredible speed.

I don't like the slow parts but that has a lot to do with the recording quality. Some of her phrasing in the fast passages is gorgeous and totally original. love the ending. It's archetypal argerich.

I agree. Everybody is scared of critising her because she is so famous.

Argerich plays this Ballade since her early teens. So at 40, in 1981 when this recital took place, she knew exactly what to do with it; like ir or not. Think before writing.

You make me laugh. :^) Don't say "future". Before Marta Argerich, there was someone whom the world adjudged the greatest pianist ever.

I agree with you. Like I said, "i'm a HUGE fan of argerich," but I was just disappointed. I'm not denouncing her based of this performance. Listen to her Scarlatti or Ravel. You will find that it is unmatched by anyone past, present, or future.

Even great artists like Argerich can have "off" days. I rather liked the interpretation. It's legit. I have heard better but that is ok.

but the fast part are quite horrible:D ouuuu.hahaha

argerich has such a wide dynamical range, from true true pianissimo at any tempo to SFORZATO and her musical feeling is so expressive and the interpretation and architecture of the melodies and phrases are so ingenious and are not controversial at all. anyone with musical sense would say that.

i'm a HUGE fan of argerich, but listening to this interpretation disappointed me...i really hope that it's not her, but if it is, well, S**t lol...toooo fast!

Martha remains a controversial pianist, yet one has to admit that she projects a definite "personality" in her interpretations. You either like it or not.

With many years experience playing and listening to the piano, I happen to admire her art. Others don't. Good on them, but no negative comments here will change my opinion.

ther is no denying her looks helped. but her profound sadness in these works helps too.

YES!

that's an intelligent comment, i only wish that the 'Argerich would-be-P***y lickers' out there would take heed, and think a little more.

frankly she'd got away with an awful lot because of her looks. Just a thought. Would she have actually won prizes if it wasn't for that, or maybe 'only' made the last 6, the top 10, the semis..? And failure to actually win a prize in the big competitions would have had an enourmous diference to a future career: the difference being a famous celebrated name and a run-of-the mill concert pianist nobody has heard of.

As already stated before in our era of talking to dead people like chopin and prokofiev.We must be an extremely progressive community knowing exactly how to play composers leaving nothing to imagination or spontaneous inuendo.However a discussion about argerich is subjective......thats what I like about her.And not boring like so many artists of today always playing the same YAWN.

I totaly disagree with you.this is a bad performance,nothing more and nothing less.You only say that because Martha is playing.If an unknown pianist would play like this you were starting to complaining that his preformance is not good.IMHO this is not Chopin Ballade,this is Prokofieff!!!

This is one of the most tragic performances of this Ballade.And to all the great and knowledgeable people who criticize so wonderfully I can only say one thing.Feel the music dont dissect it like a rat in an experiment.This interpretation is very personal way of showing emotions coming from an artist who has the depth.And by the way this is live which makes it extremely intensive.I LOVE THIS WAY OF PLAYING.All critics please post live performances of this ballade as a response would be nice

Además de maleducado (como sigo manteniendo), veo que eres incoherente (por no decir tonto), pues dices que la "puteas", por lo bien que toca... Veo que eres un iluminado y retórico de la palabra.
Te felicito por ser pianista y tocar, como bien presumes, esta obra mejor que Argerich. Habría que oírte...

Esto es para estronomo16: JAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJA
Acá en único "jilipollas" sos vos, gallego tenias que ser. Yo la puteo de lo bien que toca jaja, solo dije que en el final de la obra esta algo desvordada, no soy ignorante de la musica todo lo contrario, soy pianista, y toco esta obra. Aprendé a darte cuenta lo que la gente quiere decir con lo que escribe PAJERO

Eres ante todo un maleducado, ignorante de la música. No se por quién te harás creer, pero no trates de desprestigiar la ejecución de Argerich, porque quedas tu a tí mismo paradogicamente, mil veces peor de lo que le puedas decir. Y en el caso de que yo no llevase razón, porque fuese tuya, solo se vería que eres un Faetonte presumido, aparte de lo que dije maleducado, y ante todo, un solemne jilipollas.
Argerich, eres una de las mejores pianistas que ha habido en los últimos tiempos.

Argerich is supreme. There is nothing like her in the world. Not since Busoni and Rachmaninov...