Pollini is back
NewsThe venerable Italian pianist Maurizio Pollini has given his first public recital since collapsing with heart disease at the Salzburg Festival last summer.
Pollini, 81, appeared at Vienna’s Musikverein on Thursday night. He played Schoenberg’s uncompromising six pieces opus 19, Schumann’s C-major Fantasie and a second half of works by Chopin.
photo: Musikverein Wien/©Julia Wesely
He doesn’t look so good….
What’s really uncompromising in that program is the treacherous coda to the second movement of Schumann’s Fantasie. By comparison, the Schoenberg Opus 19 is an amuse bouche. I’ve followed Maestro Pollini’s career for a half century and wish him the very best.
Way back in 1981, i heard him play that treacherous coda flawlessly at Carnegie Hall. The audience gasped!
It’s only treacherous because everyone feels obliged to play it ridiculously quickly-it remains in 4/4 though one would never know it.
Trifonov nailed “the coda” in Berlin last night!
Shame Trifonov couldn’t make it to London last Friday for reasons of ‘illness’ (too many commitments?). Great to hear Pollini played in Vienna; he’s still scheduled for London this Friday too!
Or was it visa issues? He has cancelled three appearances in London this year.
Very good news.
Wonderful news. He has done so much for modern composers and established classics. When he retires perhaps he could head BBC radio 3
Respectfully, people need to know when to retire… his recent recordings (even doctored) don’t hold up to his standards. Alfred Brendel is a wise man, retiring at his prime(ish).
And please don’t tell me you listen to him to honor his legacy.
God forbid musicians do what they love, even at old age …
Your point is well taken. I’m a big fan of Pollini and cherish a number of his recordings and over the years heard some extraordiany concerts from him. But I heard him live most recently about a decade ago or so, and his performance was not remotely at the standards he has been well known for. It was sad. Maybe he was ill that day (no announcement was made), but I think more likely it’s just his current state. And it likely hasn’t gotten better. It is sad to see someone’s skills diminish right in front of us. But nothing will ever take away those marvelous Chopin recordings or his exemplary Brahms 2nd Piano Concerto with Claudio Abbado and the VPO in the 1970s (1977?), a performance for the ages.
I honor his legacy, and I listen/watch his concerts now (and from back then) to learn from a master
Respectfully, blog commentators need to know when not to make themselves look small and foolish.
Pollini’s recent recordings are beautiful. They are “doctored” in the sense that they are the product of significant labor, thought, and editing – that is to say, they are like all good studio recordings, including Pollini’s own celebrated DG recordings from the 1970s (which were famously the product of the most exacting standards and exhausting rounds of takes and editing).
I have heard Pollini recently in Salzburg (in 2019) and Paris (in 2021). Both recitals had some of the most beautiful piano playing I have heard.
And please don’t tell me you are spending your time better by attending recitals by more significant artists.
PS – I do listen to Maurizio Pollini for his legacy, which is extraordinary.
So don’t buy the tickets and let those of us who enjoy live performances “waste” our money on him
Let’s hope he can carry on a while longer. Such a high quality artist and all round class act. Must also hope the cigs are gone from his life now.
On the contrary, that s perfect time to do what you wish…
Well……Good news,but why does he stick to some of the hardest pieces written,fumbling his way through the fiendishly difficult coda of the second mvt of the Schumann Fantasy,and quite some of the more virtuosic parts in the Chopin Scherzo? There are so many pieces he still could add something to….So much of Schumann´s piano works are neglected( Bunte Blätter,Albumblätter, Variations,Fantasiestücke op.111,etc.) he could play marveloussly.
Around 2010 I heard 2-3 concerts at Carnegie. He was never perfect and was, no is, admired for standing up to critics—i heard him flub one note in the opening parallel scales of the G minor Ballade on purpose as an F*ck you to a critic who only talked about that same flub in Boston the night before. MP is an beautifully expressive pianist and I am lucky to have heard him live and I’ve heard Rubinstein, Horowitz, (both when I was 10 and 15) Argerich in 2001, Aimard, and Pehria, but Pollini is still the king of Chopin in my book.