Martha Argerich,Liszt Funerailles

originally telecast july 31,1977

[@kostasaxillios3003]

I just love the way Martha presses the key with her thumb at 7:14, then looses it, and all of a sudden she just supresses it again without producing any sound!!! I find it quite funny to be honest, and for me it's a sign of spontaneous playing, and of a tremendously highly functioning nervous system as well... Love you Martha!!!

[@OriginalBasaliskos]

Such a gorgeous melody.

[@colin_rose]

those octaves...oh my jesus...

[@stevehendrix9625]

The great Argerich. The moment when her left hand goes from the single notes into the octaves (round about 6:50) is extraordinary.

[@durugultepe4218]

it sounds a little like chopin’s heroic polonaise at that seconds too.

[@ronl7131]

Woooohooooo 🚀🍻

[@eyalurim]

​@@durugultepe4218that is by design!

[@sebastian-benedictflore]

We all came here to see the octaves

[@petrospalaskasmusic]

She doesnt stay close to the sheet music (at least my version , Cortot) and it is a bit fast for me...but i cant disagree that her technique is flawless and it is a first-class interpretation..! :)

[@manosapo6588]

Όντως, είναι πολύ πιο αργό απ όσο το παίζει

[@pianistofmusic290]

I love the ending.

[@theyvanmcgregor]

Vibrational Healthy Restoration Much gratitude:)

[@ElsaBouet]

WHY is there always some people who dare to say that this genius plays badly and should listen to their advices ? People, if you don't like it, if you can't hear it wonders where others hear it, it's just no use to open your mouth. LOVE this piece played this way.

[@FranciscoNogueirafranzonwave]

I Fucking love Martha, she always touches me so deep as any other in piano...

[@juanchiviris1]

she's singing with the piano

[@RyanChanOrganist]

Argerich is a strong woman......Try the octaves yourselves and you'll result in muscle pain ^^ This is simply cool......

[@valeriekuhn3746]

Please make the sound louder on this. I have my speakers full blast and I can barely hear it. The is my favorite.

[@williamwoolf8072]

use noise cancelling headphones

[@khiyanurvallikad6431]

If you rotate your hand side ways you will find that the distance between the thumb and 5th is the same as the thumb and 4th and the thumb and third (So if your span is 9 notes it is easy to play octaves with the the 4th or 3rd!) Most hands are like this! So if you rotate sideways sufficiently you can do the same 9th with fingers 5, 4 , or 3 as well! Therefore that does not mean she has large hands!

[@jojesty9151]

To Valerie, FYI. There are still things called amplifiers. I listen in my noisy woodshop with a Heathkit amp (built myself 40 years ago!) and 30-yo Advent speakers. Old amps and speakers should be really cheap (try Craigslist, EBay?), and *much* better than using PC speakers. Any amp will connect to the 3.5-mm stereo ("headphone") output on any PC, using a cable with a pair of standard RCA ends (Amazon, etc.) Anyway, Argerich is unique, wonderful, and sometimes (appropriately) maniacal!

[@pianofan24]

@sebustienus Really? Even for people with small hands? My maximum reach is 9 notes and that is with my hand completely flat ("pancake flat") and I can reach octaves with the 4th finger with extreme difficulty - any thoughts on what I should do?

[@chairrest35]

IT"S NOT A SONG!!!! Please can people stop calling pieces of music songs? It's a song if someone is singing.

[@kemmiller1]

Where was this recorded? I've seen many of her solo recordings wearing this same red dress and I wonder if it was all the same session and time.

[@alanleoneldavid1787]

It's a 1977 live recording and she plays schumann piano concerto, and some ravel piece and then this piece. It's complete on the max Lima channel. He has a lot of Martha Argerich recordings

[@ethansaltmere]

@marcohorowitz8 yeah but dont listen to the bit after that! 7:28 is so insensitive!

[@akelofgren9468]

Before composer got the credit, nowadays just pianists

[@pqiojsqdklnads3861]

yep

[@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji]

6:53

[@a.echave]

Dat klaxon at 4:28

[@OverFjell]

@wnxg4nd4lf I can play octaves with 1-3 but can't even reach a tenth 1-5..

[@NiPaVou]

small hands? i dont think so... playing the octaves with 1-3 fingers...

[@MrGar11]

6:53😂

[@summerdawn6777]

🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️

[@petervonberg2711]

Yes, she can play fast.

[@pianofan24]

is she playing the octave trills from 0:46 to 1:22 with her thumb and 3rd finger? how large are her hands?

[@rigel48]

She can stretch a tenth. Chord LH : C-G-E (Chopin 4th ballade) Chord RH : A#-C#-E-A#-C# (Chopin Prelude N° 7)

[@nicolaspachecoarango]

I don't know for other but my 1-5 span and my 1-3 span are not that different so I don't think it is as huge as you may think

[@duartevader2709]

I can reach an 11th with 1-3 and 12th with 1-5, having a flexible hand is enough in my opinion

[@Fritz_Maisenbacher]

le mort vit encore et le vit du mort est en vie qui n'est pas mort

[@silviasantos4215]

Escuchen esta obra interpretada por Arrau y comparen.......

[@MartinVanBoven]

There's no comparison; Arrau is a master, and outwordly good in this piece. Argerich like so often doesn't have the foggiest what to do, musically, and decides to just tastelessly hammer herself through the piece.

[@silviasantos4215]

Martin ... tienes toda la razón en tu comentario... Saludos Cordiales

[@ritabustamante8447]

Arrau es excelente no digo que no. Pero para mi Martha es única. Obvio sin restarle meritos a Arrau que también es fantástico.

[@monkeycover9205]

@@MartinVanBovenenvy

[@roarcer]

Solo de escuchar el incio mejor ahí le dejo..¿Por qúé tantas veces Martha Argerich toma tiemmpos TAN RÁPIDOS? ,,,,¿por qué vuelas, nena?

[@ulisescenturion7455]

por que puede volar

[@youresomodest]

I get all giddy watching her use that LH thumb of hers within the first minute. I don't know why.

[@summerdawn6777]

Fantastic

[@brandon485]

@afertyus1000 yeah! xDD, but I think it's middle/ring finger?? o.O

[@ramybounou2005]

both

[@billylee2390]

I think her technique is brilliant, maybe the best in the history. That's why I don't get easily impressed by anyone's Prokofiev concerto 3 except for hers. Also she has a large reportoire specializing in romantic and Russian music. But I think some composers like Mozart or Brahms somehow don't fit in with her style. There's not any pianist who could play all kinds of composers well. For me, her Schumann is my favorite.

[@stefanbernhard2710]

In her prime, she doesn't hold a candle next to Hamelin or Volodos.

[@rigel48]

@@stefanbernhard2710 That remains to be seen!

[@iOnlySignIn]

@pianofan24 I'd say her hands are surprisingly small, which makes her technique all the more amazing. Just compare her fingers to the keys. Her hands are much smaller than most pianists, male or female.

[@Chicken_for_Aesculapius]

5:40

[@ethansaltmere]

@forgottenbooks no - shes playing with a high wrist to control the sound better - and take the arm out of the note to create a cleaner more lisztian sound. stress on the fingers is only applied when you tense your arm muscles - which i guarantee you argerich isnt doing.

[@JoseAPerez-nq9vu]

Great piniast, of the best in the last 60 years. It's a real pity the sound is so poor.

[@OverFjell]

Regardless look at the huge muscle mass on the sides of her hands, I've never seen them muscles so pronounced, even on people like Horowitz

[@r.i.p.volodya]

I find the central 'battle scene' to be too fast for the music, too clipped to no purpose; it's supposed to be a fanfare.

[@ethansaltmere]

@RyanMacMcC Try listening to Zimerman's version of this. Krystan Zimerman. This is how it is done.

[@r.i.p.volodya]

Isn't her opening tempo too fast to be funerial?

[@user-gq5uy7ou1w]

1:54 ГП 4:00 ПП

[@VivaRenata]

@Christian170978 Right on target. Fine technical proficiency but no sense of rubato and thereby no understanding of the drama of this composition. Unfortunately, I haven't found a recording of Arrau playing Funerailles here.

[@chairrest35]

Fine but the piece of music isn't a song. It's a bit like calling a novel a poem.

[@RyanMacMcC]

If you have a problem with her interpretation, post a video of your own interpretation and show us how it's done.

[@duartevader2709]

This is such a dumb take, srsly, this is classical music, it doesnt work like that

[@jojowisa1270]

Does she want it to end this desperately that she speeds through every slow section like a firetruck ablaze

[@nicolaspachecoarango]

It's possible Martha doesn't really like live performing (that's why most of the time she plays concertos or piano trios...).

[@ElsaBouet]

@wagneristhebest "Many people" don't have the truth. And I do know a lot of recordings. You hear technique, I hear much more. Argument is useless.

[@norbertherterich4750]

Rhythmus? Töne? Hallo? Gibts mal EINE/N, der das Stück ungefähr so spielt wies dasteht. Und besonders bei dem Orgelpunkt-Teil n bisschen weniger Pedal nimmt...?

[@azraelpapagalovic7249]

I agree with those critical of this performance - right from the beginning I thought "Oh my, this is just bad." And there are great Argerich performances other than this one. I guess technique means absolutely nothing if you don't try to breathe life into music.

[@douglassmith7750]

Dedicated to Frédéric Chopin...many similarities to the Aflat Polonaise

[@mazeppa1231]

This was not dedicated to Chopin -_- It was dedicated to three people who died in the hungarian revolution

[@douglassmith7750]

mazeppa1231 says on my manuscript

[@mazeppa1231]

Douglas Smith Really? But I have a CD recording of Arcadi Volodos performing this piece and on the description, it says Liszt dedicated this piece to the people who died in the hungarian revolution.. o.O

[@douglassmith7750]

mazeppa1231 I dont doubt you and I am not a musicologist...will read up...I am aware of the wars during that time ..thanks

[@mariselaiii]

+Douglas Smith I study music in college and we were talking about this piece in the music history class and I found out it's about the Hungarian Revolution. Yes there's similarities with the Chopin Polonaise and maybe Liszt was thinking of Chopin when he compose this piece but as far as I know Funérailles was not really dedicated to Chopin.

[@vvlcliszt]

pas assez funéraire...

[@aryanpianist]

not my pianist !

[@enmago1982]

No! Martha, questo pezzo nel 1977 non era per te; forse eri ancora troppo giovane. Niente sentimento, partenza troppo veloce per ostentare la tecnica e inesorabili stecche in arrivo. Liszt non perdona.

[@Qwerty-hj1ml]

In effetti, non fosse per quelle ottave mostruose questa interpretazione sarebbe stata presto dimenticata.

[@SuspiriaRosso]

Potresti suggerire qualche versione ottimamente interpretata a tuo avviso? Grazie!

[@hectordanielcarvalho2809]

Yo admiro a Argerich pero esta grabacion no me seduce. Prefiero la version de Arrau

[@dido93]

Argerich is always great and she's a unique Genius, but after hearing Bolet's rendition and depht.....it's difficult to like "other funerailles"....!!

[@cantkeepitin]

dido93 Go for Zimerman, he is beyond everything.

[@richardvolpe7664]

Why on earth would she choose such an inappropriate opening tempo which does absolutely nothing to "set the mood" for this piece? It should be slower, more ponderous in character - - how could she not feel it?? And the later "octave" section is played, as nearly every 'virtuoso' pianist does, at too fast a speed, robbing the section of deep, dramatic effect. That's the thing about Argerich: despite all the musical felicities she's more than capable of producing, there are just too many instances (in her extensive repertoire) where her interpretations would be enhanced by less frenzied, more judiciously chosen tempos. Yes, I'm well aware of how impressed and excited her fans tend to become when they witness these "feats of super-brilliance" that she delivers so effortlessly, but perhaps if these fans were willing to take an honest, close look at the purely Musical aspects of the works she's playing, their judgment might be "tweaked," at least to some extent.

[@Viflo]

Sorry Martha, maybe the recording was sped up, maybe the volume was a bit off at certain moments but the interpretation itself was beyond horrible. I mean, if you compare the lacrimoso section to Volodos or Kissin, it's like comparing Bentley to Lada. I mean if you listen closely to 5:35 , you can actually hear the piano crying "WTF are you doing to me"

[@beecolor]

It's a very bad version of Funerailles !

[@ethansaltmere]

@Sylbao It's not to many peoples taste, obviously. Maybe you should try listening to other recordings, and typing english that's legible, before making a comment like that. This is a really poor performance of a great liszt work - Argerich could never do the really deep stuff. It's got nice things, but nowhere near the intellectual depth and emotion that it should have. Great technique, but not much else, is what I say about Argerich.

[@MartinVanBoven]

"All get on the Funérailles Express!!!" What a shockingly uneven and empty rendering of this grand piece. It seems no music is safe in the hands of this woman.

[@owengette8089]

yeah no music is safe because she erases all the terrible pianists who defile composers’ graves in her successful effort to perform the best recordings imaginable

[@posthocergopropterhoc9202]

There's a moment in one's life when one is peacefully scrolling through the comments of one's favourite rendition of an excellent piece when one stumbles across something rather odd: a 4 year old comment. Now this comment may be old, but its contents are just something extraordinary. Of course one would be surprised; one would have just found an atrocity: hate against the one and only Martha Argerich -- the horror! There seems to be only one reply adequate enough for that which one has just found: Fuck off.

[@ngaiofleming1894]

@@posthocergopropterhoc9202XD I couldn’t believe the comment when I saw it either 😂

[@nariko2481]

6:12