Martha Argerich, the Elusive, Enigmatic ‘Goddess’ of the Piano
At 83, the Argentine-Swiss pianist is at the peak of her powers. But she doesn’t want to talk about it.
“I want to hide.” Argerich in Basel, Switzerland.Credit...Mischa Christen for The New York Times
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By Javier C. Hernández
Javier C. Hernández shadowed the press-shy pianist Martha Argerich in Switzerland, trying every trick in the book to get her to talk.April 1, 2025
The pianist Martha Argerich had just delivered an electrifying performance on a snowy night in northern Switzerland. Fans were lining up backstage for autographs, and friends were bringing roses and chrysanthemums to her dressing room.
But Argerich, who at 83 is still one of the world’s most astonishing pianists, with enough finger strength to shatter chestnuts or make a Steinway quiver, was nowhere to be seen. She had slipped out a door to smoke a Gauloises cigarette.
“I want to hide,” she said outside the Stadtcasino concert hall in Basel, Switzerland, shrinking beneath her billowy gray hair. “For a moment, I don’t want to be a pianist. Now, I am someone else.”
As she smoked, Argerich, one of classical music’s most elusive and enigmatic artists, obsessed about how she had played the opening flourish of Schumann’s piano concerto that evening with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana. (Her verdict: “not so good.”) And she became transfixed by the memory of performing the concerto for the first time, as an 11-year-old in Buenos Aires, her hometown.
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