Every music festival needs a little drama, a little tension. Lucerne’s prestigious Le Piano Symphonique has as its main attraction the grande dame of the keyboard, Martha Argerich; stars don’t come much bigger in classical music. This year she had flown from the US after a nasty bout of flu – no fun when you are 83. Would she be well enough to play?
Well, yes and no. Her first appearances – playing Berg and Schubert with fellow pianists Stephen Kovacevich and Mikhail Pletnev; Haydn and Brahms with violinist Janine Jansen and cellist Mischa Maisky – were joyous, mercurial occasions, typical of Argerich’s informal approach as pianiste associée of the festival, bringing distinguished friends along to make wonderful music together. But then the medics took charge and advised her to skip her next two concerts. Could she summon the energy to close the festival? We would have to wait and see.
