Martha Argerich at the Proms

Proms on TV, 2026
Martha Argerich at the Proms
Royal Albert Hall

Sunday evening, and he early signs of autumn are creeping in. Annoyingly, I've still got two Proms left to watch. I say annoyingly, only because it feels now like the party is over and I should be moving on to the next thing 2026 has in store for me.

I have managed to deep clean my bathroom which, though necessary on occasion, is invariably a grim hour, which moves towards three hours. Always feels good afterwards, though.

Tonight on iPlayer I pick Martha Argerich at the Proms. She is a piano legend apparently, having first performed at the Proms way back in 1966. I note that that was the year England did actually have some success, World Cup wise.

Just yesterday, I discovered a relatively new beer shop in Bebington village called the Prost Bottle Shop. It has probably the best selection of German beer bottles I have seen in the UK to date, amongst other esoteric Czech offerings and so on. I settle down with a bottle of 'Darwin's Origin' - something from the Salopian Brewing Company that I was first introduced to a year or two ago, when visiting Shrewsbury for the first time. 

Tonight's Proms has piano in its DNA, we're told. First up it's something by Louise Farrenc, and it is pretty grand I can tell you. One can easily sense that this music is over 100 years old. It ain't half bad!

Martha Argerich then appears to play us some Beethoven, and that can't be a bad thing? It isn't bad at all, and I really like the way she tinkles the ivories in the more 'old school' way, rather than the Super-Star-Prodigy sort of a way. That's how a piano ought to be played, in my opinion. The Ravel Fairy Garden duet at the end is particularly touching, with intertwining trills to finish off. Great stuff!

After the break we head into Brahms Symphony No. 4, and this snags my interest because I think it's the first piece of Brahms I've heard at the Proms. It's a pity Brahms's 4th Symphony doesn't feature alongside Star Wars and The Planets, because it is truly out of this world.

An impromptu encore of Hungarian Dance No. 5. Also a product of Brahms's, I gather.