Notes and Editorial Reviews
Maurizio Pollini is, of course, one of the great pianists of our age, and while like all great artists he achieves varying results on recordings, the real issue with a collection such as this is how well it represents his achievement as a whole. In general, this selection of his recordings for DG gets the job done admirably. There are some real classics here: Bartók's first two piano concertos, Beethoven's Sonatas Op. 106 and 111, the Boulez Second Sonata, Liszt's Sonata in B minor, Webern's Variations, the Schoenberg solo piano music, Chopin's Études Op. 25, and Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrushka. All of these recordings richly deserve the accolades that they have received over the years, and each says something
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valuable about Pollini's qualities as an artist, from his dedication to contemporary music to his superbly finished technique, intellectual rigor, and his ability to see a work whole.
But there are surprises as well. His Schubert Sonata D. 959 and especially a superb Three Piano Pieces D. 946 reveal him as far more flexible, graceful, and able to make a melody "sing" than his formidable reputation otherwise warrants. The two works by Luigi Nono (Como una ola de fuerza y luz, and ...sofferte onde serene...) are landmarks not just in Pollini's discography but in the composer's as well. Debussy's Études show Pollini less concerned than we might expect with their purely technical and intellectual challenges or modernist harmonic elements, and instead returning to his Chopinesque roots (though his Chopin impresses for exactly the opposite reasons!). Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 benefits from Pollini's finely chiseled approach and Karl Böhm's congenial accompaniments, and the same holds true for their generally impressive, grandly scaled Beethoven "Emperor" Concerto.
On the other hand, Beethoven's Third and Fourth concertos and Brahms First, all under Claudio Abbado, do not efface memories of Pollini's superior early recordings of the same works. Similarly, the live Schumann Piano Concerto under Karajan recorded in Salzburg in 1974 (included in a special bonus disc) has more urgency, warmth, and expressiveness than the official studio version with Abbado (also included here), but his recording of the same composer's Fantasy in C shares the same fine qualities as his Schubert. The "other" bonus concerto, Chopin's First, recorded live at the 1960 Chopin Piano Competition (the winning of which sent Pollini onto his international career), offers essentially the same performance as the official EMI recording from the same period, only in poor sound.
Even the performances where hard-core listeners may find the results less than stunning, either on account of the music itself (Manzoni's Masse: Omaggio a Edgard Varèse) or the ready availability of as good or better competition (Chopin's Second Piano Sonata and the "Moonlight" and "Waldstein" Sonatas of Beethoven), reveal the extremely high technical standard and seriousness of purpose that characterize everything that Pollini does. His Achilles' heel, if he can be said to have one, lies in his somewhat flinty sonority, a lack of color that tends to hardness in his less than best work; but part of that problem also has to be laid to rest at the feet of DGs engineers, whose piano recordings from the 1970s through the present never have set an industry standard. Still, in this set there's ample evidence that in Pollini we are dealing with an artist who has certainly earned his reputation for greatness, and whose finest recordings surely will withstand the test of time far into the future.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Concerto for Piano no 23 in A major, K 488 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano)
Conductor:
Karl Böhm
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: 1786; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 1976
Notes: This selection is an ADD recording.
2.
Concerto for Piano no 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 "Emperor" by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano)
Conductor:
Karl Böhm
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: 1809; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 1976
Notes: This selection is an ADD recording.
3.
Concerto for Piano no 3 in C minor, Op. 37 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano)
Conductor:
Claudio Abbado
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: 1800; Vienna, Austria
Notes: pp1992
4.
Concerto for Piano no 4 in G major, Op. 58 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano)
Conductor:
Claudio Abbado
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: 1806; Vienna, Austria
Notes: pp1992
10.
Sonata for Piano no 2 by Pierre Boulez
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1948
Date of Recording: 1976
Notes: This selection is an ADD recording.
11.
Concerto for Piano no 1, Sz 83 by Béla Bartók
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano)
Conductor:
Claudio Abbado
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1926; Budapest, Hungary
Date of Recording: 1977
Notes: This selection is an ADD recording.
12.
Concerto for Piano no 2, Sz 95 by Béla Bartók
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano)
Conductor:
Claudio Abbado
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1930-1931; Budapest, Hungary
Date of Recording: 1977
Notes: This selection is an ADD recording.
13.
Como una ola de fuerza y luz by Luigi Nono
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano),
Slavka Taskova (Soprano)
Conductor:
Claudio Abbado
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1971-1972; Italy
Date of Recording: 1973
Language: Spanish
Notes: This selection is an ADD recording.
This performance utilizes a pre-recorded tape.
14.
Masse: Omaggio a Edgard Varčse by Giacomo Manzoni
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano)
Conductor:
Giuseppe Sinopoli
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1977; Italy
Notes: pp1980
15.
Concerto for Piano in A minor, Op. 54 by Robert Schumann
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano)
Conductor:
Herbert von Karajan
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1841-1845; Germany
Notes: pp1974
16.
Concerto for Piano no 1 in D minor, Op. 15 by Johannes Brahms
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano)
Conductor:
Claudio Abbado
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1854-1858; Germany
Notes: pp1997
21.
Pieces (3) for Piano, D 946 by Franz Schubert
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1828; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 1985
39.
Etudes (12) for Piano by Claude Debussy
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1915; France
Date of Recording: 1992
40.
Pétrouchka by Igor Stravinsky
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: Switzerland
Date of Recording: 1971
41.
Pieces (3) for Piano, Op. 11 by Arnold Schoenberg
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1909; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 1974
43.
Pieces (5) for Piano, Op. 23 by Arnold Schoenberg
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1920-1923; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 1974
44.
Suite for Piano, Op. 25 by Arnold Schoenberg
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1921-1923; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 1974
45.
Piece for Piano, Op. 33a by Arnold Schoenberg
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1928-1929; Berlin, Germany
Date of Recording: 1974
46.
Piece for Piano, Op. 33b by Arnold Schoenberg
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1931; Berlin, Germany
Date of Recording: 1974
47.
Concerto for Piano, Op. 42 by Arnold Schoenberg
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano)
Conductor:
Claudio Abbado
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1942; USA
Date of Recording: 1988
48.
Variations for piano, Op. 27 by Anton Webern
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano)
Period: Modern
Written: 1935-1936; Austria
Date of Recording: 1976
49.
Sofferte onde serene by Luigi Nono
Performer:
Maurizio Pollini (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1976; Italy
Date of Recording: 1977
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