Martha Argerich and Friends - Live from Lugano 2016

The Guardian 80

Warner Classics

Each autumn for more than a decade, EMI (now Warner Classics) has produced a three-disc compilation of recordings from the previous year’s Progetto Martha Argerich, the annual festival that the great pianist founded in the Swiss city of Lugano in 2002. The mix of solo piano, chamber music and concertos has showcased an equal mix of generations, as Argerich’s long-standing friends and collaborators played alongside up-and-coming musicians whom she supported. There was always something special among the recordings, even if there was not always as much of Argerich herself as her fans might have liked. But that all came to an end last year, when sponsorship of the festival was withdrawn, no replacement could be found and the 2016 festival had to be the last.

Related: Martha Argerich: Live from Lugano CD review – real sense of occasion for 'friends' compilation