Martha Argerich, 85, Ditches Setlist Mid-Concert
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- Martha Argerich and Dong-Hyek Lim scrapped the advertised first half of piano duets — including Schubert's Fantasia in F minor D940 — in favor of Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major K448 and Ravel's two-piano arrangement of La Valse.
- The Schubert Fantasia in F minor D940 was repositioned as a monumental 20-minute encore in the second half, following Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances in its two-piano original version.
- Dong-Hyek Lim meandered the stage between works with Argerich leaning on his arm, as the two chatted, negotiated whether to swap pianos, and let every movement start before the audience had settled — what the reviewer called 'audience-be-damned bumbling' with its own charm.
- The two displayed contrasting styles: Lim (41, Argerich's 'sometime mentee') favored bright attack and primary colors, while Argerich conjured '50 shades of grey' — veiled pianissimo, distant cosmic rumbling, and silvery crystalline descants.
- The Mozart's second movement saw Lim match Argerich's gossamer touch in a breathtaking sotto voce passage, which the reviewer called 'astonishing pianistic ventriloquism.'
- The Ravel La Valse built to a high-wire climax as Argerich pushed ever-faster with her hands barely skimming the keyboard, forcing Lim to scramble to keep up as the waltz 'teetered on the brink of catastrophe.'
- Martha Argerich, turning 85 in June, is 'generally recognised as the greatest pianist alive today,' with her first major competition wins coming almost 70 years ago.
Why it matters: At 85, Argerich is still scrapping printed programs mid-recital, repositioning the Schubert Fantasia as a 20-minute encore and pushing Ravel's La Valse so fast her 41-year-old partner had to scramble. The performance — built on 'audience-be-damned bumbling' rather than recital polish — reframes what a major classical concert can look like at her age.
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