\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI have already told you everything,\u201d she said. \u201cI should have the freedom to do what I would like.\u201d<\/p>\n
But she did not object when I accompanied her back to her hotel. She stayed up for hours in the lobby chatting with friends about Jungian astrology, the controversy at the 1980 Chopin competition<\/a> and a suitor who once told her that she had so many personalities, she could date several people at once. She grew obsessed at one point with proving that a waxy-looking plant in the lobby was real, burying her nose in its branches and digging into the soil.<\/p>\n \u201cLook at this,\u201d she said to her friends. \u201cYou see? Every leaf is different. It\u2019s alive.\u201d<\/p>\n As we parted around 4 a.m., I asked Argerich one more question. I noticed that evening that she had lingered outside the concert hall, looking at the stars. I wondered if she ever pondered her place in the universe.<\/p>\n Argerich said she sometimes reflected on the absurdity of a life spent hunched over black and white keys. \u201cWhat are we pianists?\u201d she said. \u201cNothing. We think it is so extraordinary. But it is not.\u201d<\/p>\n As a storm blew in, filling the streets with rain, Argerich said she had made peace with her life.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t ask anymore,\u201d she said. \u201cI just play.\u201d<\/p>\n Audio excerpts, all with Martha Argerich:<\/strong> Schumann, Piano Concerto in A Minor, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Alexandre Rabinovitch-Barakovsky, conductor; Schumann, Piano Concerto in A Minor, Orquesta Sinf\u00f3nica de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Washington Castro, conductor; Bach, Partita No. 2 in C Minor; Ravel, \u201cGaspard de la Nuit\u201d; Schumann, \u201cKinderszenen\u201d; Beethoven, Violin Sonata No. 8 in G Major, Renaud Capu\u00e7on, violin; Chopin, Polonaise in A-flat Major; Chopin, Scherzo in C-Sharp Minor; Chopin, Mazurka in A Minor; Chopin, Nocturne in F Major; Chopin, Cello Sonata in G Minor, Mischa Maisky, cello; Rachmaninoff, Suite for Two Pianos No. 2 in C Major, Alexandre Rabinovitch-Barakovsky, piano. Credit:<\/strong> Warner Classics (\u201cMartha Argerich: The Warner Classics Edition<\/a>\u201c); Teatro Col\u00f3n; Deutsche Grammophon (\u201cMaisky-Argerich, Live in Japan<\/a>\u201d).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n