Maurizio Bling

The present release features a series of works for oboe and accordion by six different contemporary composers. They have been written on the request of the oboist Enrico Calcagni for the duo he forms with the accordionist Maurizio De Luca. Despite the difference in each composer’s style, these works have in common the same plain and comprehensible language, making them very pleasant to listen to.

…it's one of the quartet's last recordings, but the legendary luminosity of sound is still there, as is the beautiful precision, perfectly complemented by Pollini's clarity and control of touch. But it's by no means a cold, clinical performance - the first movement is powerfully dramatic, the Andante expansively lyrical, and the start of the Scherzo has never sounded darker or more mysterious.

Pollini's performances of Beethoven's last five piano sonatas have assumed almost legendary status. Sometimes considered a cold interpreter, Pollini here pays scrupulous attention to Beethoven's instructions, an attention that never gets in the way of sincere expression. There's a lot to be said for approaching this music with a maximum of clarity and simplicity, and a minimum of Romantic panting and heaving. In fact, Beethoven's instructions are so detailed, and the music itself is often so elaborately developed, that it's all most pianists can do to play it as he wrote it. Pollini does that, and much more.

Pollini's performances of Beethoven's last five piano sonatas have assumed almost legendary status. Sometimes considered a cold interpreter, Pollini here pays scrupulous attention to Beethoven's instructions, an attention that never gets in the way of sincere expression. There's a lot to be said for approaching this music with a maximum of clarity and simplicity, and a minimum of Romantic panting and heaving. In fact, Beethoven's instructions are so detailed, and the music itself is often so elaborately developed, that it's all most pianists can do to play it as he wrote it. Pollini does that, and much more.

Patrocinato dall’Istituto per la Musica della Fondazione Giorgio Cini, il cd è una testimonianza del concerto tenuto il 10 dicembre 2003 a Venezia, organizzato dalla Fondazione Ugo e Olga Levi nel quadro delle manifestazioni dedicate alla riapertura del Teatro La Fenice.