No pianist ignites the keyboard quite like Martha Argerich.
For over half a century, her volcanic artistry, instinctive musicality, and fearless technique have captivated audiences and left an indelible mark on classical music. Argerich doesn’t simply perform a piece—she inhabits it, breathing life into every phrase with a spontaneity that feels both thrilling and inevitable. Whether tackling the most ferociously demanding repertoire or exploring the subtlest nuances of chamber music, her playing radiates intensity, intelligence, and emotional depth.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1941, Argerich was a prodigious talent from the start, making her concert debut at eight and winning the International Chopin Piano Competition at just 24. That victory catapulted her to global fame and marked the beginning of a remarkable, if often elusive, career. She has famously shunned the spotlight, avoiding solo recitals for decades and focusing instead on concertos and collaborations, particularly with fellow musicians she trusts and admires.
Yet despite her reluctance to court celebrity, Argerich’s influence looms large. Her recordings—electrifying, spontaneous, often definitive—are treasured by fans and fellow pianists alike. With a personality as mercurial and compelling as her interpretations, Martha Argerich remains one of classical music’s most powerful and enduring forces.
A child prodigy
Martha Argerich was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1941. Her family on her father's side were from Catalonia, in north-eastern Spain: however, they had settled in Argentina in the 18th century. Martha's maternal grandparents, meanwhile, were Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire, who had settled in Argentina at the end of the 19th century.
Yes: in fact, Argerich showed great promise from a very early age. She began piano lessons at the age of three: two years later, she started learning with the Italian pianist and teacher Vincenzo Scaramuzza, who stressed to her the importance of lyricism and feeling.
Who taught Martha Argerich?
The young Martha Argerich performed her first piano concert in 1949, at the age of eight. She performed Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor and Beethoven's First Piano Concerto in C major. A little later, in 1955, Martha's family moved to Europe, allowing Martha to study piano in Austria with the great classical and jazz pianist Friedrich Gulda.
She also had lessons with pianists Abbey Simon and Nikita Magaloff, as well as Madeleine Lipatti (widow of the pianist Dinu Lipatti). The year 1957 was a red-letter one for the young pianist: aged just 16, Argerich won both the Geneva International Music Competition and the Ferruccio Busoni International Competition within three weeks of each other.
She thought of giving up altogether
Not everything was plain sailing during this time, however. Argerich had a frustrating time trying to study with the great, but reclusive and enigmatic pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, who gave her only four lessons over the course of a year and a half. After that, the young Argerich was off to New York, hoping to study with her pianistic hero Vladimir Horowitz - but this did not bear fruit either.
Discouraged, Argerich abandoned the piano for three years and toyed with giving up altogether. However, she did eventually return - and in some style, winning the VII International Chopin Piano Competition in 1965 at the age of 24.
Argerich made her first recording in 1960 at the age of 19. That recording featured works by Chopin, Brahms, Ravel, Prokofiev, and Liszt, and was a critical success. Over the decades since, Martha Argerich has recorded works by a wide range of composers, with the Romantic era a speciality. Indeed, her recordings of the piano works of Robert Schumann, such as the Kinderszenen, Kreisleriana and Fantasia, arguably represent the pianist at her expressive, emotional and virtuosic peak.
Argerich at the BBC Proms
Martha Argerich has graced the Proms on various occasions. Famously, there was the Proms performance in 2016 when, at the age of 75, Argerich played Liszt's First Piano Concerto in a performance conducted by her friend (and fellow Argentine-born musician) Daniel Barenboim. 'Her playing is still as dazzling, as frighteningly precise, as it has always been, said The Guardian, 'her ability to spin gossamer threads of melody as matchless as ever.'
Since then Argerich has also appeared at the 2019 Proms, at the age of 78, to perform Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto, once again with Barenboim on the podium. The Guardian labelled this performance 'mesmerising': 'it bristled with intensity and intent from the first bar, so often propelled by the crystal-clear precision that still comes so naturally to her, and the lines of the slow movement floated with weightless ease.'
Martha Argerich: six great recordings
With a rich and wide-ranging career to her name, the legendary Argentine pianist Martha Argerich has amassed an impressive catalogue of outstanding recordings. Over the years, BBC Music Magazine has reviewed most—if not all—of them. Here, we’ve selected some of the finest Martha Argerich recordings as a starting point for exploring her remarkable artistry.
1. Argerich plays Chopin (1965)
Just 24 years old when this recording was made at Abbey Road—shortly after her 1965 victory at the Warsaw Chopin Competition and just before signing with Deutsche Grammophon (which delayed EMI's release for nearly 35 years)—Martha Argerich plays with such blazing intensity, it hardly feels like a studio session.
Her explosive energy can be almost overwhelming, yet the performance of Chopin’s Third Sonata is stunningly spontaneous, and the Mazurkas are steeped in authentic Polish character. This album features in our list of the 50 best recordings of all time.
2. Prokofiev / Ravel: Piano Concertos (1967)
Berlin Philharmonic / Claudio Abbado
Argerich’s performances of these two great 20th-century concertos crackles with rhythmic bite and dazzling virtuosity, perfectly matched by Abbado’s incisive conducting. In the Ravel, she balances jazz-inflected sparkle with dreamlike lyricism, while the Prokofiev is a tour de force of wit and fire. This thrilling collaboration showcases Argerich at her youthful, fearless best—magnetic, mercurial, and utterly compelling.
3. Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 (1977)
Royal Philharmonic / Charles Dutoit
In this live classic from 1977, 'Martha Argerich and Charles Dutoit take a spacious, richly Romantic view of the Piano Concerto,' writes our reviewer Jan Smaczny. 'Argerich’s lightning reflexes create pianistic whirls of virtuosity – and somehow she still manages to hit all the right notes', our reviewer Julian Haylock added, when he reviewed the disc as a reissue.
4. Schumann: Kinderszenen / Kreisleriana (1984)
Argerich brings both tenderness and tempest to this celebrated 1984 recording of Schumann’s Kinderszenen and Kreisleriana. Her Kinderszenen is exquisitely nuanced, capturing the childlike innocence and fleeting nostalgia at the heart of each miniature. In Kreisleriana, she unleashes her full expressive range—by turns mercurial, brooding, and explosive. Argerich’s command of Schumann’s shifting moods and psychological depth makes this a definitive interpretation, praised for its emotional immediacy and pianistic brilliance.
5. Chopin: Piano Concertos Nos 1 & 2 (1999)
Mahler Chamber Orchestra / Claudio Abbado
A masterclass in poetic intensity and effortless brilliance. Argerich brings mercurial energy and expressive depth to the solo parts, making the music shimmer with urgency and colour. Abbado and the orchestra provide sensitive, transparent support, resulting in interpretations that feel fresh, intimate, and utterly alive—Chopin playing of the highest order.
6. Mozart: Piano Concertos 25 & 20 (2014)
Orchestra Mozart / Claudio Abbado
Mozart is perhaps not a composer associated with Argerich, so at home in the later Romantic repertoire. But she plays these two late Mozart concertos with her trademark vitality and instinctive flair. Partnered by the Orchestra Mozart under Claudio Abbado in one of their final collaborations, the result is luminous and deeply expressive. Argerich’s phrasing is fluid and alert, capturing both the grandeur of No 25 and the stormy drama of No 20. It’s a radiant, deeply felt performance from two great artists.
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