Martha Argerich Festival

Rhythmic orgies: with the fantastic whirl of »La Valse«, Ravel supplies his own unconventional transformation of the Viennese waltz. The eruptive, almost barbaric soundscape of Stravinsky’s »Le sacre du printemps« triggered nothing short of a »big bang« in the classical music cosmos of 1913: the premiere caused a major cultural scandal. The arrangement for four pianos and percussion reproduces the impulsive rhythms of the original in best chamber music guise. No less one of a kind is Schubert’s delightful Sonata in A minor: it was originally written for the arpeggione, a strange and fascinating hybrid of the guitar and the cello. Shostakovich’s First Piano Concerto bubbles over with wit, playing with tongue-in-cheek references to many corners of music history. And the trumpet has plenty to say for itself too!