The incredible 80 years of Martha Argerich

(ANSA) - BUENOS AIRES, 05 JUN - "When the pianos don't play, I don't play them": this is one of the most famous phrases by MarthaArgerich, the Argentine artist, a citizen of the world, who turned 80 on June 5, 73 of which consecrated to his innate passion for classical music. Versatile and charismatic in her approach to composers, she is universally known for her masterful interpretations of, among many others, Chopin, Beethoven, Mozart, Debussy, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, and recently Ravel. Endowed with an original character and a strong personality, Argerich has gradually been considered by critics as a brilliant, temperamental, bohemian, unpredictable and exquisite artist, capable of creating the illusion that there is no mediation between her and the music, and that even, in a sort of metamorphosis,music and her are the same. At the age of three, she was introduced to music by her mother, a piano teacher, and from five to 15 she studied in Buenos Aires with the Crotone pianist of the Neapolitan school, Vincenzo Scaramuzza, decisive for her was the day when, 14 / year old, in 1955 she received by the Argentine president Juan Domingo Perón who, at the end of an interview, asked her what she could do for them. "I would like to go and study in Vienna with Friedrich Gulda," he replied. The dream immediately became the reality that would transform her life. In 1957 he won, within a few weeks, two important prizes: the 'Ferruccio Busoni' competition in Bolzano and the piano competition in Geneva. The international consecration came definitively in 1965, with the victory of the Chopin competition in Warsaw.From that moment began a whirlwind of half a century of concerts in the main capitals of the world, accompanied by an infinite number of recordings, such as the CD 'Chopin - Martha Argerich' in limited edition dedicated to her by the Deutsche Grammophone for her 80th birthday. (HANDLE).