Martha Argerich Chamber Music Edition. (8 CDs) EMI Classics / Warner 094014-2 (2011), barcode 5099909401426
With works of Bartòk, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Franck, Haydn, Janáček, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Shostakovich
Reissued by Warner Classics with new logo, same label number and barcode:
A compilation of recordings all previously issued by EMI
29 October 2017
I don’t have this set. It came up on offer on eBay, I examined it and decided not to bid, but I thought it might be of interest to the potential buyers to know the sources of this compilation. It turns out that none of the material gathered here is new, all the tracks are reissues of recordings previously published by EMI. As a collector, I personally prefer to go to the sources (especially since a lot from those original sources is also left out including the pieces where Argerich does NOT play), although others may find this to be a convenient compilation. So here you go, in chronological order (of releases, rather than recordings):
Complete contents of EMI CDM 7 63577 2, “Franck / Debussy” (CD publication 1990), barcode 077776357720, with Mischa Maisky (cello), rec. 29-31 December, 1981 at the Geneva Conservatory, Switzerland:
– CD 5: Debussy Cello Sonata, La plus que lente (waltz arr. Maisky), Minstrels (arr. Maisky – Prélude no.12)
– CD 6: Franck Cello Sonata in A (transcription of Violin Sonata)
From EMI’s Martha Argerich (and Alexander Rabinovitch’s) Schumann 2-CD set 5 55484 2 (1995), bc 724355548429, recorded live 18 September 1994 at the Concertgebouw Nijmegen, Netherlands:
– CD 3 Märchenbilder op.113 with Nobuko Imai (viola)
– CD 4 Andante and Variations in B flat op.46 with Alexandre Rabinovitch (piano), Marie-Luise Neunecker (horn), Natalia Gutman, Mischa Maisky (cellos)
– CD 8 Piano Quintet in E flat op.44 with Dora Schwarzberg, Lucy Hall (violins), Nobuko Imai (viola), Mischa Maisky (cello)
– Violin Sonata no.2 in D minor op.121 with Dora Schwarzberg (violin)
– Fantasiestücke op.73 with Natalia Gutman (cello)
Note that a single CD was issued from that 2-CD set, EMI 5 57308 2 (1995), bc 724355730824, without the Piano Quartet and Adagio & Allegro where Rabinovitch was at the piano, but also without the Second Violin Sonata with Argerich and Schwarzberg.
CD 1 gathers the complete contents of EMI’s “Music from Saratoga”, EMI 556815-2 (1999): Beethoven Violin Sonata no.9 in A op.47 “Kreutzer” , Franck Violin Sonata, with Itzhak Perlman, recorded live 30 July 1998 at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, USA. This recording gets rave reviews – except by me. In Franck, Argerich tries so hard to make a personal statement that she completely distorts the music.
From EMI 5 56816-2 “Music from Saratoga” (1999), barcode 724355681621, which had Bartòk’s Contrasts, Prokofiev Quintet op. 39 and Liszt’s Concerto pathétique for 2 pianos:
– CD 6: Bartòk Contrasts with Chantal Juillet (violin), Michael Collins (clarinet), live from Saratoga, July and August 1998
From EMI 5 57468 2 (2003), bc 724355746825 (with Brahms’ Sonata for 2 pianos op. 34b):
– CD 5 Mendelssohn Piano Trio no.1 in D minor op.49 with Renaud Capuçon (violin), Gautier Capuçon (cello), Lugano 25 June 2002
From EMI 5 57469 2 (2003), bc 724355746924 or 5 57506 2, bc 724355750624 (with Mozart’s Piano Quartet No. 1, K. 478, played by evgueni Brakhman, left out):
– CD 2 Beethoven Clarinet Trio in B flat op.11 with Marek Denemark (clarinet), Mark Drobinsky (cello), Lugano 28 June 2002
From EMI 5 62970 2, “Martha Argerich & Friends Live from the Lugano Festival 2003” (2004), bc 724356297029:
– CD 5 Haydn Piano Trio in G Hob.XV:25 (Gypsy Rondo) with Renaud Capuçon (violin), Gautier Capuçon (cello), Lugano 10 June 2003
From EMI 4 76871 2 “Live from the Lugano Festivals 2002-2004” (2005), bc 724347687129:
– CD 4 Schumann Piano Quintet in E flat op. 44 with Dora Schwarzberg, Renaud Capuçon (violins), Nora Romanoff-Schwarzberg (viola), Mark Drobinsky (cello), Lugano 27 June 2002.
– CD 7 Shostakovich Piano Trio no.2 in E minor op.67 with Maxim Vengerov (violin), Gautier Capuçon (cello), Lugano 14 June 2004
– CD 3 Schumann Violin Sonata no.1 in A minor op.105 with Géza Hosszu-Logocky (violin), Lugano 23 June 2004
From EMI 3 58472 2 “Live from the Lugano Festival 2005” (2006), bc 094635847222:
– CD 2 Beethoven Piano Quartet in C Wo036 no.3 with Renaud Capuçon (violin), Lida Chen (viola), Gautier Capuçon (cello). Recorded live in Lugano, 14 June 2005
From EMI 3 89241 2 “Live from the Lugano Festival 2006” (2007), bc 094638924128:
– CD 3 Schumann Fantasiestücke op.73 (version for flugelhorn and piano) with Sergei Nakariakov (flugelhorn), Lugano 19 June 2006
– CD 4 Schumann Piano Quartet in E flat op.47 with Renaud Capuçon (violin), Lida Chen (viola), Gautier Capuçon (cello), Lugano 26 June 2006
From EMI 5 04504 2 “Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 1; Concertino; Piano Quintet” (2007), bc 5099950450428:
– CD 7 Shostakovich Piano Quintet in G minor op.57 with Renaud Capuçon, Alissa Margulis (violins), Lida Chen (viola), Mischa Maisky (cello), Lugano 21 June 2006
From EMI 5 18333 2 “Live from the Lugano Festival 2007” (2008), bc 5099951833329:
– CD 6 Bartòk Violin Sonata no.1 Sz75 with Renaud Capuçon (violin), Lugano 11 June 2007
– CD 2 Beethoven Piano Trio in D op.70 no.1 “Ghost” with Renaud Capuçon (violin), Mischa Maisky (cello), Lugano 13 June 2007
From EMI 2 67051 2 “Live from the Lugano Festival 2008” (2009), bc 5099926705125
– CD 7 Janáček Concertino for piano, two violins, viola, clarinet, horn and bassoon with Lucy Hall, Alissa Margulis (violins), Nora Romanoff-Schwartzberg (viola), Corrado Giuffredi (clarinet), Zora Slokar (horn), Vincent Godel (bassoon), Lugano 17 June 2008
– CD 3 Schumann Violin Sonata no.2 in D minor op.121 with Renaud Capuçon (violin), Lugano 20 June 2008
From EMI 6 07367 2 “Live from The Lugano Festival 2009” (2010), bc 5099960736727
– CD 5 Schumann Fantasiestücke op.88 with Renaud Capuçon (violin), Gautier Capuçon (cello), Lugano 21 June, 2009
– CD 2 Chopin Introduction and polonaise brillante in C op.3 with Gautier Capuçon (cello), Lugano 23 June 2009