Martha Argerich – Verbier 2007-2008

The classical record producer, Walter Legge, liked to describe himself as a “midwife to music”. Similarly, the production, for the second consecutive year, of the seventeen days of the 2008 Verbier Festival could be described as an attempt at being “harvester of music”. In preparing this DVD we have had the luxury of choosing from the best fruit borne of an exceptionally rich musical summer. Out of the 28 concerts we filmed and presented in association with Arte on www.medici.tv, followed by over 760,000 viewers from 167 countries, we have selected what we feel is the most representative of the artistic quality and the aspirations of the Verbier Festival. Above all, we hope that this ambitious audio-visual project has captured the Festival’s multifaceted spirit. The Shostakovich Piano Quintet lead by Martha Argerich and Joshua Bell, united for the first time onstage, opens this selection and illustrates not only what exceptional musicians can achieve when brought together but also the involvement of the audience, who could not contain their applause after the Scherzo.