By Nina Tjomsland for Stavanger Aftenblad Norway. Published Wednesday 11 August 1999.

Translation and text layout by Björn Östlund, from the Norwegian to Swedish and then to English. The translator wishes to thank Hywel David, London, for his kind assistance.

Was shy and confused

If you want to talk to Martha Argerich you have to be a nightbird. – Perhaps after the evening concert, she said. But when that is over she has to practise for the orchestra performance on Thursday. -->

Argerich and Truls Mørk get fortissimo applause for the Franck Sonata in the St Petri church on Tuesday evening. But she is obviously not happy with the position of the lights which created reflections in her eyes, which made the score and keyboard disappear in darkness.

Martha Argerich's body language sparkles. Doesn’t she have anything to say then? Oh, yes. She remembers the critics from the first time she played with the orchestra here, tries to place it in time, it should have been 1964, not '63 because then she had her first daughter and didn't play that year, she says.

– I think that is correct. When I arrived here, they told me that the orchestra was amateurish and that they drank a lot before the rehearsals but expected to be OK at the performance. That was true.

Memorising in her sleep

Argerich learnt the Prokofiev third concerto in a slightly odd way. Two female students shared a room in Geneva, with beds and a piano, one of these students being Argerich. Her roommate practised the Prokofiev third concerto all the time. Even before noon while Martha was asleep she subconsciously absorbed the music, complete with the roommate's wrong notes.

Martha Argerich was born in Buenos Aires, became a child prodigy, and came to Europe at the age of fourteen to study with several great musicians. She won first prizes in two major competitions only two years after that. What kind of childhood was that?

– I was shy and confused at the same time. Argentines kiss and hug each other all the time and the women use a lot of make-up and smudge your face with lipstick. I hated it and tried to avoid people touching me.

The queen's smile

– I read a lot. My brother was born when I was three – naturally he was a pest at first, a real crybaby but he got better. I spent a great deal of time with adults. Too much, in fact. I had an extravagant piano teacher; a temperamental one. Some times he gave me lessons at midnight. So you could say that I didn't have a European upbringing!

– I do not practise that much at all, half an hour to two hours a day, but always every day.

If you want to do something, then you do it properly?

She nods with the smile of a queen. Then she listens to the Chausson-quartet being performed in the church:
– Listen. How beautiful!

Hates to be alone

Why do you like playing chamber music?

– Development and the beautiful repertoire of course, but most of all because it is so vivacious. We pianists can be alone a lot of the time. That is an awful situation. I did that a great deal when I was young. Then I discovered the possibilities of chamber music.

Argerich has several friends that she that plays with. Among them are Perlman, with whom she played for the first time last year.
– I alternate with many artists, she says.

You must like to play with Truls Mørk as you accepted to play with him here?

– He is very lyrical, has rich imagination, instrumentally he is fabulous and I think he likes to play with me.

On Monday evening she played the Shostakovich Trio in E minor with Arve Tellefsen and Truls Mørk. It was a magical event for the audience. She nods.
– Tellefsen was a new acquaintance, a splendid chamber musician.

Instinct and intuition

– The most interesting things can happen during a concert. I like to be surprised by unexpected things coming from the subconscious, she says.

Instinct and intuition are strong factors in Argerich's music making. When she learns a new piece she asks for advice from every one around her, even the cleaning lady. And she is honest, she does mean it. But deep inside she knows how she wants things. According to Truls Mørk she is modest with her colleagues. She knows to listen and to remain open to nuances and new twists from the others.

Generous rehearsing facilities

After two days in Stavanger -- or rather two afternoons and two nights -- she has only flattering things to say about the festival, with an exception of the podium lightning. She likes Truls Mørk's way of putting together the programme, the atmosphere and finds the rehearsing facilities in the conservatoire generous. And so she meets friends; Martha Argerich and Stephen Kovacevich have been married, and he is the father of her oldest daughter.
[Translator note: The latter is wrong. Argerich’s daughter with Kovacevich is her youngest. Robert Chen is the father of Martha Argerich's first daughter, Lyda.]

Right now the question is where to practise. The piano part of the Prokofiev concerto won't be popular at the hotel after midnight. Does she want to go to the conservatoire? Martha Argerich smiles. When she played with the orchestra in Stavanger for the first time, they practised at night, something they had to do, half the orchestra were amateurs.

– That suited me much better! I like to start my day in the afternoon, says Martha Argerich.

(At the Stavanger festival in 1999 Martha Argerich played with Truls Mørk, Leila Josefowitz and the Stavanger SO. Present at the festival were also Stephen Kovacevich and Lilya Zilberstein, among others.)

"Was shy and confused"

Hates to be alone