Schumann: Piano Concerto & Violin Concerto
Martha Argerich
Martha Argerich’s Schumann: Piano Concerto & Violin Concerto pairs two of Robert Schumann’s major orchestral works in live performances that have become reference recordings in the Teldec/Warner catalogue. Recorded in the early 1990s with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the album features Argerich in the Piano Concerto in A minor and Gidon Kremer in the Violin Concerto in D minor, giving both scores an intimate yet high‑voltage chamber‑orchestral feel. Critics note that the sound is lean rather than massive, which lets the interplay between soloists and orchestra come through clearly, even if the acoustics are a bit diffuse by modern studio standards.
Argerich’s reading of the Piano Concerto is often described as volatile and mercurial: she moves from arresting, dramatic attacks in the opening movement to a limpid, song‑like poetry in the slow movement and an exuberant, rhythmically charged finale that feels almost improvisatory in its spontaneity. Kremer, by contrast, approaches the long‑neglected Violin Concerto with spacious tempos and a focus on introspection, treating it as deeply lyrical, serious music rather than a virtuoso showpiece, while Harnoncourt shapes the orchestral parts with a dark, almost Brahmsian weight. Together, the two performances present Schumann not as a “romantic eccentric” on the fringes of the repertoire, but as a composer of profound, structurally sound concertos whose emotional world ranges from restless and stormy to tender and inward.
Schumann: Piano Concerto & Violin Concerto
Martha Argerich
Martha Argerich’s Schumann: Piano Concerto & Violin Concerto pairs two of Robert Schumann’s major orchestral works in live performances that have become reference recordings in the Teldec/Warner catalogue. Recorded in the early 1990s with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the album features Argerich in the Piano Concerto in A minor and Gidon Kremer in the Violin Concerto in D minor, giving both scores an intimate yet high‑voltage chamber‑orchestral feel. Critics note that the sound is lean rather than massive, which lets the interplay between soloists and orchestra come through clearly, even if the acoustics are a bit diffuse by modern studio standards.
Argerich’s reading of the Piano Concerto is often described as volatile and mercurial: she moves from arresting, dramatic attacks in the opening movement to a limpid, song‑like poetry in the slow movement and an exuberant, rhythmically charged finale that feels almost improvisatory in its spontaneity. Kremer, by contrast, approaches the long‑neglected Violin Concerto with spacious tempos and a focus on introspection, treating it as deeply lyrical, serious music rather than a virtuoso showpiece, while Harnoncourt shapes the orchestral parts with a dark, almost Brahmsian weight. Together, the two performances present Schumann not as a “romantic eccentric” on the fringes of the repertoire, but as a composer of profound, structurally sound concertos whose emotional world ranges from restless and stormy to tender and inward.