The soloist in a piano recital can feel terribly lonely. They typically perform alone, engaging in a monologue with themselves and the music, facing a few hundred or thousand listeners. This has been the norm since the 19th century, and it's a familiar scenario. However, there are poignant accounts from pianists describing how lost one can feel on the stage during these soliloquies: facing a black monstrosity of an instrument that doesn't always respond willingly and an audience on the right, sinking into semi-darkness, felt more than seen, yet seemingly poised to catch any wrong note.
The greatest living pianist of our time has steadfastly rejected this setting for four decades. Martha Argerich has likened the experience to "being an insect under the lamp," a metaphor she famously used in the early 1980s. Since then, she has refrained from solo recitals, opting to perform exclusively with partners and orchestras. Creating an entire festival around such an exceptional artist poses a challenge: reinventing the venerable piano recital. This challenge has become the success formula for the new series "Le Piano Symphonique," now in its third year, organized by the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra (LSO) with Argerich at the KKL.
Piano Evenings with Acts
Originally conceived as a replacement for a canceled segment at the Lucerne Festival, the project has become a beacon in Swiss music life. When Martha Argerich is involved, international audiences are virtually guaranteed. What is noteworthy is the unconventional approach prompted by Argerich's aversion to solo performances. In Lucerne, piano evenings now have "acts" – akin to opera. The first act usually features a fellow artist, with Argerich joining as "Pianiste associée" in the second or third act, ideally shaping the rest of the evening together.
The opening concert on Tuesday exemplifies this concept beautifully. Michail Pletnev, stepping in for the ailing Maria João Pires, demonstrates in the first part that he still stands among the technically best pianists – a feat not to be taken for granted as Pletnev has often favored conducting over his career. His return to the piano may also be attributed to being considered a persona non grata in Russia since a critical statement against the Ukraine war.
As an interpreter, Pletnev remains an experimenter, leaving no detail or less-noticed counterpoint unused. This approach gives his playing a density and polyphony that compels the listener to hear with an acoustic magnifying glass, especially since virtuosic externals seem to bore this jack-of-all-trades. His cyclical performance of Chopin's Préludes op. 28 infuses an austere, relentless quality, particularly in the famous "Raindrop Prelude," which feels almost manic here. What a grim, experimental, and decidedly unpleasing piece of music! Pletnev interprets it in line with the classical definition of the recital as intense soliloquies of a solitary individual.
When Martha Argerich joins in the second act, the atmosphere changes. Mozart's infrequently played G major Variations KV 501 from 1786 bring light into the darkness, and this Rococo miniature brings visible joy to both performers. However, Mozart expressly composed the piece "for 4 hands" – yet Argerich and Pletnev play it separately on two pianos, which also happen to be from different manufacturers. It's not as innocuous as it seems; it becomes noticeable during Schubert's F minor Fantasy and proves to be somewhat disruptive.