Martha Argerich and Prokofiev's Devilishly Difficult 3rd Concerto
Hello everyone,
I’m really excited to share the newest tonebase YouTube video with you all! This time we dive into one of the most electrifying stories in the piano repertoire: Sergei Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto — and the legendary performance of Martha Argerich. The comment section on the video has been exploding with interesting conversations, and I hope you all might join in there also!
On the surface, it’s one of the great “hits” of the repertoire. But as I discovered while making this video, the real story is much more complicated. Prokofiev wrote this piece during a moment of deep uncertainty in his life — calling it “devilishly difficult” and practicing “three hours a day” (lol) out of sheer anxiety.
The video also features insights from three remarkable tonebase artists: Boris Giltburg, Barbara Nissman, and Boris Berman. You’ll hear their perspectives woven throughout the story, alongside archival photos, score examples, and some wild historical context I unearthed along the way.
This was such a fun (and very big!) project to put together, and I’m so happy to finally share it with this wonderful community. I'm also curious to hear from you here what piano concerto I should tackle next - the comments have been full of good ideas but I wanna hear from the tonebase crew first!
Wishing you all a great week,
Robert
2 replies
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I got to hear M.A. perform it in Vienna in September. She is still spectacular!
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i also had the privilege of hearing Argerich perform this concerto twice, once in Philadelphia about thirty years ago, and just the other week with the Vienna Philharmonic in the Musikverein. She’s 84 and literally hasn’t lost a thing. I heard her do the same thing with Ravel last year. Truly a one-of-a-kind phenomenon. Occasionally we hear of an octogenarian who finishes a marathon. Argerich is like one who not only finishes, but wins outright. And musically? She played like a goddess. Sorry to be such a fanboy, but we’re witnessing musical history with what she’s accomplishing at her age.
