Tag: Maurizio Pollini

In the aftershock of the death of any prominent musician, my thoughts inevitably wend their way to the question of who’s left? It’s been the case for me at least since the ‘90s, when the classical music world lost so many – all old friends, familiar from decades of recordings – and always the evidence seems to be of little cheer. Now, a little over a week after the death of the great pianist Byron Janis, I receive news of the loss of Maurizio Pollini.

Pollini was renowned for his interpretations of Beethoven and Chopin, certainly, but for me he was more riveting when tackling modernist works. His albums of Webern’s Variations and Boulez’s Piano Sonata No. 2 and Stravinsky’s Three Movements from “Petrushka” and Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 7, all combined when released on CD, are high points of his discography. He was also a champion of the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen and Luigi Nono.

At his best, he had a way of making even standard repertoire seem experimental. He recorded a magnificent Liszt program, including the monumental Piano Sonata in B minor (surely the most radical sonata of its day), with a truly revelatory selection of the composer’s later, prophetic works that seldom, as under Pollini’s touch, pointed the way so assuredly to the 20th century.

There was an aura about the man and the artist that exuded integrity, idealism, intelligence, and mystery, between his unwavering embrace of left-wing politics (he was an avowed communist), his notorious perfectionism (he refused to authorize recordings in which he perceived defects that no one else could hear), and last-minute cancellations (including one at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre in 2011).

Again, the question: who’s left? Of the giants of Pollini’s generation, I mean – certainly of the stable of great pianists who kept the major labels (in Pollini’s case, Deutsche Grammophon) relevant?

Maurizio Pollini was 82 years-old. An irreplaceable musician. I can’t say I was equally impressed with all of his Beethoven and Chopin, which could come across as a little clinical – I am more of the Janis camp than the Pollini – but when he connected, the rewards were cherishable. I, for one, am very thankful to be able to choose from his recordings. R.I.P.

Chopin, Nocturne No. 8, Op. 27, No. 2 (live in concert)

Liszt, “Unstern! Sinistre, Disastro”

Boulez, Piano Sonata No. 2

Young Pollini plays Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto (live)