Martha Argerich Plays Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concetro No. 3

Mind-boggling in its difficulty, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concertos, are considered by many pianists to be some of the most challenging works to play, let alone master.  Watch the video and you can see that the third Concerto demands an athletic ability from the performer.  To maintain so much speed in your fingertips for so long must be a rather masochistic experience.  I certainly think the work provokes a kind of pleasing discomfort in a live audience watching the musicians struggle to keep up with the notes on the page.  And struggle they do – even a world class performer like the famed, Argentinian artist, Martha Argerich, has to work to pull it off.  She succeeds, and epically so, but what effort!  The second half, below,  is even faster than the first.