Maurizio Pollini died today
RIPThe foremost Italian pianist of his era died this morning in a Milan clinic. He was 82.
Winner of the 1960 Chopin Competition in Warsaw, he played with all major orchestras and in all major concert halls for six decades. A reserved man, he avoided media interviews and confined his intimacy to musicians of similar background and political sympathies, notably the late conductor Claudio Abbado, who was his closest collaborator, and the composers Luigi Nono and Pierre Boulez.
His unconcealed membership of the Italian Communist Party did not preclude seasonal recitals at Carnegie Hall.
Introspective and unemotional, he was a masterful interpreter of the Beethoven sonatas. He caused great frustration to his record label, DG, refusing for years to authorise release of recordings that appeared perfect to expert ears.
His eightieth birthday, widely recognised, showed a noted decline, but he continued playing into his final year. He had a personal following larger than almost any other living pianist and those fans remained loyal to the end.
He is survived by his wife Marilisa and son Daniele.
UPDATE: Top pianists pay tribute
Rest in Peace – Maurizio ♥
Rest in eternal peace. His technical and musical prowess were (and are still) something to behold.
I went to his Chicago recital 8 years ago.
Bravissimo maestro.
I’m assuming the 2 down votes are jealous.
A very sad loss. When I was a teenager I heard a broadcast of his recording of Chopin’s E minor piano concerto, made shortly after his winning the Chopin competition. I was mesmerised by this spellbinding performance and bought the LP (and later the CD). This has remained one of my most treasured piano recordings, along with Michelangeli’s Rachmaninov 4th/Ravel G major concertos and a more obscure but magnificent performance of Brahms’ First Piano Concerto by Jacob Gimpel.
How sad that we are losing so many of these great performers. Rest in peace, maestro; thanks for all the pleasure you have brought us.
The recordings you cite are also ones I have enjoyed for decades. My other Pollini performance favorites are his Stravinsky”Petrouchka” movements and Prokofiev 7th sonata.
That Petrouchka was and remains the reference recording, if ever such a thing is possible to attain.
Herbie, I could not agree more on all your points. I still treasure that LP (Philharmonia, Paul Kletzki) as ‘the’ benchmark recording of that piece.
(Other opinions are of course available.)
Riposa in pace, Maestro.
❤️
A sad day indeed and a great loss to our musical world.
Sad day. I am thankful I can still play my very worn out DG CDs of his Chopin.
I like also the Mozart concertos he did wih Karl Böhm
The first time I heard Pollini live was on August 30, 1980 in Salzburg. He played K.459 with the VPO and Böhm in his last performance at the festival. It was Mozart playing in the best possible way, with the music flowing beautifully, specially in the second movement. An Orfeo CD exists and I will hear it tonight again. I had dinner with him three times. He was a good listener and asked lots of questions. I have sent to him several Toscanini CDs of European performances, including the Missa Solemnis on BBC records which he had never heard. I have a thank you note which I will treasure forever. A great man and a great musician.
He told me that it was unacceptable to put single movements of a work on the radio….
What can I say- such sad news. He was a ‘Great Great’ pianist & musician. Arguably one of the most technically accomplished pianists in history- almost everything he touched turned to gold. The fondest memories of his solo recitals at the RFH- particularly in Beethoven & Chopin- both of which he excelled. The single most awesome performance I ever heard from him live however- Stravinsky’s 3 movements from Petrushka- in an RFH recital in the early 1990’s- truly astounding. RIP Maestro Maurizio Pollini- you have given me great inspiration/pleasure (as I’m sure millions of others) in an increasingly dark & troubled world.
My entire musical life has been accompanied by the great Maurizio Pollini’s concerts and recordings ever since his London performances of the final three Beethoven sonatas in the late 70s. May he rest in peace, thank you for all the wonderful music https://youtu.be/EJ6WFV2J5LY?si=zkSuQ1Wu3b5AaIoP
An Apollonian artist whose work was the standard to which we students all aspired, in the 1970s-80s. I was privileged to meet him once, after a legendary recital in San Francisco where he essayed the Chopin Preludes, works of Schoenberg and Webern, and a magisterial performance of Stravinsky’s “Petrouchka.” Then in his 50s, it was an evening never forgotten. RIP and thank you, Maurizio Pollini.
Apollonian is a perfect description, Sara. I also heard him several times in the early 80s in Paris and NYC…even borrowing some money from a dear professor because his concerts were SO expensive for students. (I think it was $25 back then!).
Thank you for YOUR excellent classes on Tonebase.
Fortunate enough to see him live in recital at the RFH four times the second half of the 1980s. He was the most masterly pianist I’ve seen, with a tone much more beautiful than he was given credit for. Wish there was a recording of his playing of the Schubert sonata in G. Thank you and RIP Maestro Pollini
Luckily, there are two live performances on youtube (1988 and 1991). The 1991 in particular is in very good sound and both are extraordinarily beautiful. In 1991, a slight patch of barely noticeable blemishes in the double notes just before the C minor section in the last movement serves to remind us that he was human after all. It would still be worthy of release as far as I am concerned.
The first recital ever attended was Pollini’s, Tel Aviv,1983.It was like an electric shock.It changed my life.
I like the Bartok record he did in the 80’s with Abbado. But Pollini of course it was Chopin unforgatable in concert. i regret that he never played Ravel. maybe in an other life…
That Bartok recording changed my life.
RIP Maestro
HIs Brahms 1 with Abbado and Berlin on DG is “awesome” to use that much-worn superlative.
The rising trills octaves near the end of the middle movement are like honey overflowing the piano case and dripping down…..
https://youtu.be/HFEG33tqeyc?si=X84HNU8EjMQICgAX
How one of the piano titans of our age has been trashed repeatedly in these pages still remains fresh in memory.
He was offering concerts to a paying public when he was no longer capable of performing. Was the world supposed to pretend it didn’t happen. You will notice no one in the comments, appropriately, expect you has brought that up his unfortunate decision not to retire earlier.
An extraordinary pianist of immense stature. I will never forget the shock and amazement of hearing his recording of the Prokofiev Seventh Sonata, and the three movements from Stravinsky’s Petrouchka.
Rest in peace Maestro.
I purchased his DGG recording of the Chopin Etudes when I was in my early teens (early 1970’s) and have been a fan ever since. I was privileged to see him in several recitals in NYC in the ‘80’s, including an interesting pairing of the Diabelli Variations and the Stockhausen Klavierstücke X. An extraordinary pianist. Rest in peace, Maestro.
OMG, Tom. I was at the Diabelli/Stockhausen in NYC also.
I was also at the concert in early 1983! It also included the Webern Variations. Unforgettable.
Brahms quintet with Quartetto Italiano.
The gold standard of that particular piece.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who had zero interest in Stockhausen until he heard Pollini play him. Magical.
This is sad news. I attended many of Pollini’s Royal Festival Hall recitals when he was at the height of his powers, but especially remember his cycle of the complete Beethoven sonatas given between November 96 and June 97. It was a privilege to meet him in the Green Room after the final concert and get my programme signed! RIP Maestro.