Maurizio Pollini

Earlier this year Maurizio Pollini, one of the greatest pianists of our time, celebrated his 80th birthday. Having made landmark recordings of Beethoven’s final five sonatas in the 1970s, he decided a few years ago to revisit the works and elicit their last secrets in new interpretations. Featuring the Sonata in A major Op. 101 and the “Hammerklavier” Sonata Op. 106, this album completes Pollini’s recent survey of the five works, which began with the successful 2020 release of Beethoven – The Last Three Sonatas.

One of the most grandiose works in the piano literature written by one of the most important composers in the music history meets here the accomplished mastery of one of the foremost pianists before public today. The great Italian virtuoso Maurizio Pollini plays the Piano Concerto No.1 by Brahms with the orchestral support given by Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado.

Johannes Brahms - Klavierkonzerte Nr. 1 & 2 - Maurizio Pollini (2016) {2CD Set Deutsche Grammophon}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 375 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 218 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 103 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2016 Deutsche Grammophon | 00289 479 3985
Classical / Romantic / Concerto / Piano

Maurizio Pollini, still one of the undisputed stars of the piano when these performances were recorded in 2011 and 2014, had already recorded the Brahms concertos several times before. One might expect a kind of late-life summation, but this is nothing of the sort. Instead, Pollini seems energized by the chance at an unusual pianist-conductor interaction, something arguably more important with Brahms than with any other composer: the motivic web can be knitted in various ways. Pollini's lithe elegance, little diminished in his late sixties, stands in sharp contrast to the big-boned dramatics of Christian Thielemann, leading the venerable Staatskapelle Dresden, and many passages sound totally novel.

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.

While noted for his interpretations of Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Bruckner and Strauss, Bohm is generally not the first conductor I think of when it comes to Beethoven. That said, he has always proven to be a gifted accompanist, and that holds here as well. He and Pollini seem to share a similar vision for this work, and thus both the soloist and orchestral forces work towards the same end goal.