Skip to Content

The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

The Colors of XX Century

Jan 6–20, 2023
Via Vittoria, 6, 00187 Roma RM, Italy

At 81, the phenomenal Martha Argerich continues to dazzle, amaze, and delight. Her vehicle in Rome is Ravel’s cut-glass Concerto in G, ever a specialty. The composer’s professed intent was not profundity but to entertain. But entertainment at Argerich’s level of sophistication has a way of verging on transcendence. Antonio Pappano conducts the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, bookending the Ravel with Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1, known as the “Classic,” and the Sibelius Fifth. Of the composition process, Sibelius wrote, “It was as if God the Father was throwing pieces of mosaic from the edge of heaven and asking me to figure out what the pattern was.” (That’s inspiration.) —Matthew Gurewitsch