With a sharp stride and little regard for the audience or the atmosphere at the Palau de la Música, Martha Argerich immediately sat down and started playing - far from a surprising inception where Argerich, a controversial pianist who by broad consent has shaped the very top of the world’s classical music scene over the last four decades, is concerned.
Partita No. 2 in C minor by Johann Sebastian Bach would be an unlikely choice for the first composition of the evening by any pianist hoping to be liked by those seated in the concert hall. Yet, Martha Argerich is all about the music, paying minimal attention to outside opinions, personal preferences or approval ratings.
The way she plays transcends style, however. It is utter musical purity. Under her fingers the heavy first notes of the concert flowed together seamlessly. When she plays, notes seem to have an innate gravitational pull towards one another. It was almost as though the piano was playing itself.
While the acoustics of the Palau de la Música are superb, especially given the amount of glass, marble and ceramics that make up the structure, the space didn’t complement the piano in lower octaves.
Argerich made almost no pause between the first six movements, which contributed to the feeling that she was in a hurry. Three men then came to the stage and changed the location of the piano and put four chairs in front of it.
Cuarteto Quiroga, appointed quartet-in-residence in charge of the Royal Collection of decorated Stradivarius at Madrid’s Royal Palace, took over the following 30 or so minutes, playing String Quartet No. 1 in C minor by Johannes Brahms. The quartet made of young musicians has a nice, relatively well-rounded, although technically not always perfect, sound and has established itself as one of the most dynamic and unique quartets of its generation. Brahms suited them well and at certain points, the cheerful expressions on their faces showed that they truly enjoyed playing notes which provided some challenge. The finale of the last movement was, for the level at which they played, excellent, with a lot of output both in terms of quality and physical intensity.
After the intermission, they joined Martha Argerich to play the Piano Quintet in E-flat major by Robert Schumann. It was impossible not to notice the discrepancy between the levels of quality of the quartet and the pianist. Their clinging to the lighter side of the notes and Argerich creating worlds of different dimensions with every touch of the key did not complement each other. Her passage in Allegro Brillante was, in terms of physical and musical power, simply brilliant and the way in which she dealt with very difficult notes in the Scherzo was astounding.
A big applause and the reprise of the Scherzo closed the concert, after which a line was formed at the door leading backstage, likely of fans or the curious few who wanted to see this remarkable musician up-close.
In the old days, when a classical musician played really well, the people used to say that person plays like a CD. Martha Argerich is not just a CD, she is also the CD player and the loudspeakers.
Displays of exceptional music are rare and the audience at the Palau de la Música were lucky enough to hear just that. The full hall saw that age has only enhanced the way in which Argerich dominates notes and delivers almost unparalleled musical quality.