Piano Sonatas 2-3 [Import]

Maurizio Pollini is one of the most important pianists of this century, and this is one of his finest recordings. His approach to these familiar pieces is characteristically revelatory. As always, Pollini's supernatural control is fully at the service of a commanding musical sensibility to which sentimentality and neurosis are utterly foreign. He can play with a devastating power and intensity, of course - have movements 1 & 2 of the Bb minor sonata ever been rendered with such cosmic savagery? - but he is just as capable of heartbreaking lyricism, as in the hypnotic middle section of the Funeral March or the Largo of the B minor.

Oddly enough, Pollini is often criticized for being 'cold'. His remarkable memory, control, and architectural sense of a piece can strike the casual listener as premeditated, it seems. In fact, his control permits him an astonishing degree of freedom, and his live performances are spontaneous and deeply felt. There is more to Maurizio Pollini than his celebrated technique, and these recordings show that he is one of the tenderest, most deeply committed pianists on record. A must-buy!

Pollini's is easily the best interpretation of these sonatas I've ever heard. The standard take on these works is that they don't really have a coherent structure or traditional sense of development, and that Chopin just threw a bunch of brilliant but nevertheless disparate pieces together. In Pollini's hands the sustained unity of both is never in doubt. The "Funeral March" Sonata is miraculous. The first two movements have a wild, almost insane abandon about them, which make the hushed atmosphere of the slow movement even more menacing and intense. It's what I'd somewhat melodramatically call a dance of death in four movements. To be both manic and superbly controlled with one's playing seems a contradiction in terms, but believe me, Pollini does it. The third sonata is virtually unknown, but it is a lot like Chopin's other late work (the Bacarolle, the fourth Ballade) with its introspective, serene and meditative qualities. Although it's completely different in mood and tone from the other sonata, Pollini again is equal to the task. Pollini's Chopin is unique, and his rendition of the more intellectual works like the Etudes and the Preludes is second to none. Now he's shown what he can do with another dimension of Chopin, and to truly appreciate these sonatas, it's essential to listen to what he achieves here.

This DG recording captures the piano sound in full digital dynamic range; precisely as Pollini plays Chopin. Consistent with Pollini, he has his own definite view of the music - not copying Cortot, or Brendel, Ashkenazy etc. His fingering technique so supreme that he elicits what detail he sees fit for a phrase. He brings a "sober" quality to the Sonata #2 and a technically controlled performance to #3.
No doubt these 2 performances among the great Chopin interpretations put to media in our time. Pollini undertook committing all of Chopin's music to disc. The germaine question is: do you agree with his view of the music? And over the years as his playing style has changed, are his older (some analog) recordings to your musical liking or his self-described recent "freer style" and reinterpratations going to be in your Chopin Collection? Ashkenazy, Pollini, Ax and Perahia constitute the majority of my Chopin works. This disc gets a firm recommendation.