One of my favorite concerts by him, in 1999 at Carnegie Hall, reviewed by Paul Griffiths here (https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/12/arts/music-review-proving-that-time-is-not-of-the-essence.html?unlocked_article_code=1.e00.scUU.cGsO9pvaI2oa&smid=url-share).
Schoenberg: 3 Piano Pieces, Op. 11
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major, Op. 106, "Hammerklavier"
Stockhausen: Klavierstück X
Beethoven: Bagatelle in E-flat Major, Op. 126, No. 3
Beethoven: Bagatelle in B Minor, Op. 126, No. 4
-Bruce
Quote from: brewski on March 23, 2024, 06:48:26 AMOne of my favorite concerts by him, in 1999 at Carnegie Hall, reviewed by Paul Griffiths here (https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/12/arts/music-review-proving-that-time-is-not-of-the-essence.html?unlocked_article_code=1.e00.scUU.cGsO9pvaI2oa&smid=url-share).
Schoenberg: 3 Piano Pieces, Op. 11
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major, Op. 106, "Hammerklavier"
Stockhausen: Klavierstück X
Beethoven: Bagatelle in E-flat Major, Op. 126, No. 3
Beethoven: Bagatelle in B Minor, Op. 126, No. 4
-Bruce
RIP.
Bruce, wasn't there a Carnegie Hall recital around that time in which Pollini slapped a (female) page-turner at some point? There was
some media coverage (mentioned in a newspaper review, at least) and iirc it involved one of Stockhausen's
Klavierstücke.
Quote from: T. D. on March 23, 2024, 06:55:15 AMRIP.
Bruce, wasn't there a Carnegie Hall recital around that time in which Pollini slapped a (female) page-turner at some point? There was some media coverage (mentioned in a newspaper review, at least) and iirc it involved one of Stockhausen's Klavierstücke.
Yes, I had forgotten about that (wasn't there to witness) but just found a reference to it here (https://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=1079). That must have been quite something!
-Bruce
Two titans of the piano gone in just over a week. A crummy March.
RIP Mr Pollini.
Quote from: brewski on March 23, 2024, 07:03:49 AMYes, I had forgotten about that (wasn't there to witness) but just found a reference to it here (https://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=1079). That must have been quite something!
-Bruce
Thanks. That article places the recital in 1999, which is about when I thought it happened (I was then living in the metro area and read all the reviews). More NYC nostalgia: I used to regularly read that concertonet site, but don't have the fondest memories of correspondent F. Kirschnit.
Requiescat in pace.And in Schoenbergs Concerto / Luzern/Boulez - audio only.
https://youtu.be/-ldaYW6r9bU?si=Q3mQjEUVK_t4ws4x
Wait, wait, wait! Pollini has died???
Sadly, yes, he has.
May God rest him in peace.
One of my favorite pianists, especially in Chopin and Schumann.
Quote from: pjme on March 23, 2024, 07:39:53 AM
Requiescat in pace.
And in Schoenbergs Concerto - audio only.
https://youtu.be/-ldaYW6r9bU?si=Q3mQjEUVK_t4ws4x
Thank you for this. His recording of the Bartók with Abbado and Chicago was my introduction to the piece—and to the pianist.
-Bruce
Quote from: brewski on March 23, 2024, 06:48:26 AMOne of my favorite concerts by him, in 1999 at Carnegie Hall, reviewed by Paul Griffiths here (https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/12/arts/music-review-proving-that-time-is-not-of-the-essence.html?unlocked_article_code=1.e00.scUU.cGsO9pvaI2oa&smid=url-share).
Schoenberg: 3 Piano Pieces, Op. 11
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major, Op. 106, "Hammerklavier"
Stockhausen: Klavierstück X
Beethoven: Bagatelle in E-flat Major, Op. 126, No. 3
Beethoven: Bagatelle in B Minor, Op. 126, No. 4
-Bruce
I was there too!
This came as very sad news, and a bit of a shock. I saw MP perform a number of times in recital and concerto performances in the 1980s, in London's RFH (where he almost seemed to be a resident pianist for a while!), a glittering Emperor Concerto with Abbado sticks in the memory. I also remember seeing him perform the WTC Book I, and a long-forgotten memory which this announcement today actually dislodged, was that I saw it with a friend who was a concert pianist and a fan of Pollini, but who was bitterly disappointed at the end because he'd used pedal, and it's true Bach and pedal seemed significantly more taboo than it is nowadays.
I was pretty much in awe of Pollini and had great respect for him, he seemed to bestride the piano scene, though I never got completely carried away by his playing. I warmed to him perhaps more as a person (without ever having met him), he offered up his extraordinary talent and playing standards with a kind of shyness and self-effacing involvement in the music, as well as exuding great integrity, that greatly appeals to me still today.
RIP
Quote from: brewski on March 23, 2024, 08:39:03 AMIt really was a spectacular recital!
-Bruce
Certainly was! I know I also heard his Diabellis live, and found them altogether too sober in comparison to Rosen (whom I also heard live towards the end of his life). Pollini's DG Chopin Etudes are considered the gold standard, but I recently acquired (but have not yet listened to) his earlier version on Testament, which some say is even finer.
Quote from: (poco) Sforzando on March 23, 2024, 09:38:31 AMPollini's DG Chopin Etudes are considered the gold standard, but I recently acquired (but have not yet listened to) his earlier version on Testament, which some say is even finer.
I am one of those. 8)
Quote from: Iota on March 23, 2024, 08:55:07 AMThis came as very sad news, and a bit of a shock. I saw MP perform a number of times in recital and concerto performances in the 1980s, in London's RFH (where he almost seemed to be a resident pianist for a while!), a glittering Emperor Concerto with Abbado sticks in the memory. I also remember seeing him perform the WTC Book I, and a long-forgotten memory which this announcement today actually dislodged, was that I saw it with a friend who was a concert pianist and a fan of Pollini, but who was bitterly disappointed at the end because he'd used pedal, and it's true Bach and pedal seemed significantly more taboo than it is nowadays.
I was pretty much in awe of Pollini and had great respect for him, he seemed to bestride the piano scene, though I never got completely carried away by his playing. I warmed to him perhaps more as a person (without ever having met him), he offered up his extraordinary talent and playing standards with a kind of shyness and self-effacing involvement in the music, as well as exuding great integrity, that greatly appeals to me still today.
RIP
+1 to all this.
At one time he used to be here quite a lot - my failing memory wants me to believe that one year he did 5 nights in a row, all different programs - if not on consecutive days then certainly across a short span of time.
My only contact was speaking briefly at the CD signings after each concert. One year - I
think it was an all-Chopin recital - just to be contrary I handed him my copy of his Schoenberg LP to sign:
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81-NdwZQgvL._AC_SL1500_.jpg)
Which seemed to pique his interest, so I took the opportunity to ask gently if there was any chance of him giving us any of these on a future occasion. And guess what: the very next year, the program included the op.11 and op.19
Klavierstücke. Now I'm not saying this was
entirely my doing - though obviously I tell everyone it was - but I do like to think I may have just nudged him slightly towards something he may already have been considering. Certainly it would have been around this time that I read an interview where he said London was one of the few places he could play Schoenberg to an appreciative audience. :)
RIP indeed.
A sad day!
Cross-posted from the WAYL2N thread...
Quote from: ritter on March 23, 2024, 10:12:45 AMMaurizio Pollini in memoriam...
(https://i.discogs.com/vibfMg3uPTQptcPAUcrQIa3eTsxFzuSndoIcGpi_qUI/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:592/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTEyMzIz/MTY3LTE1MzI5MzA1/NTItNTMxOS5qcGVn.jpeg)
These recordings of Beethoven's PCs No. 3 & No. 4 (and the one of No. 5 which @Todd posted above) were my introductions to these works, and remain the gold standard for me. Somehow, the young Pollini and the venerable elder Karl Böhm were a perfect pairing, producing miraculous result.
I saw Pollini only twice. Once in New York doing the Schoenberg Piano Concerto with the Bostonians under Ozawa (who coincidentally died last month), and later in recital in Caracas in the lat 80s (a all-Chopin programme IIRC).
But many of his recordings are in my collection, and he is one of my pianistic heroes. In a way, with his passing, part of my youth (with its sense awe and discovery) also fades further away...
His performance with Abbado/VPO of the Brahms second piano concerto is my favorite.
I think I'll queue this album up for today:
(https://static.universal-music.de/asset_new/98519/195/view/beethoven-the-late-piano-sonatas-0028944974023.jpg)
Quote from: ultralinear on March 23, 2024, 10:14:41 AM+1 to all this.
At one time he used to be here quite a lot - my failing memory wants me to believe that one year he did 5 nights in a row, all different programs - if not on consecutive days then certainly across a short span of time.
My only contact was speaking briefly at the CD signings after each concert. One year - I think it was an all-Chopin recital - just to be contrary I handed him my copy of his Schoenberg LP to sign:
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81-NdwZQgvL._AC_SL1500_.jpg)
Which seemed to pique his interest, so I took the opportunity to ask gently if there was any chance of him giving us any of these on a future occasion. And guess what: the very next year, the program included the op.11 and op.19 Klavierstücke. Now I'm not saying this was entirely my doing - though obviously I tell everyone it was - but I do like to think I may have just nudged him slightly towards something he may already have been considering. Certainly it would have been around this time that I read an interview where he said London was one of the few places he could play Schoenberg to an appreciative audience. :)
RIP indeed.
Haha, a brilliant story! And it seems eminently plausible that a comment like yours might give him the necessary boost to chance his arm with some live Stockhausen. And I think there were a number of people around, tired of the wearily supercilious comments of people like Beecham about KS, who were hungry for champions of new music, who would surely make their gratitude felt when he did so. So good on you for doing your bit to speed up the wheels of progress!
Italian wikipedia says he played Berio. Is that true.
It also says that Sciarrino's 5th sonata was written for him - is there a recording?
I do not have a Pollini recording that I do not treasure. May his recordings be heard far and wide for a long time to come.
Quote from: Florestan on March 23, 2024, 09:44:51 AMI am one of those. 8)
Just listened to that Testament recording. Blazing performance throughout!
Quote from: Mandryka on March 23, 2024, 02:31:49 PMItalian wikipedia says he played Berio. Is that true.
It also says that Sciarrino's 5th sonata was written for him - is there a recording?
Closest I see is that Daniele Pollini (his son) is the piano soloist in
Recitativo oscuro in this recording
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61GO+3TrJrL._UX420_FMwebp_QL85_.jpg)
Quote from: Mandryka on March 23, 2024, 02:31:49 PMItalian wikipedia says he played Berio. Is that true.
Not clear.
He's often mentioned as a Berio advocate.
But in
https://www.steinway.com/news/features/illuminating-the-masters
What drew you to these more modern voices?
I had already heard a performance of composers of the Second Viennese School. I had a recording of [Dimitri] Mitropoulos' Wozzeck and had heard many performers doing this music. So, gradually, I started to add some of these pieces to my repertory: Schoenberg first, then Boulez's Second Sonata, and later, in the seventies, Stockhausen, Manzoni. I liked Berio but didn't play him. Nono, with whom I had an important friendship, has composed two pieces for me. Ultimately, it is clear that my modern or contemporary recordings are not many, but I want to point out that this relationship with modernity has been very important for me.
I've been listening to Sciarrino's 5th sonata today, because it was written for Pollini. Those five Sciarrino sonatas are very highly thought of by the cognoscenti, I will give them all more attention soon.
Quote from: Mandryka on March 23, 2024, 02:31:49 PMItalian wikipedia says he played Berio. Is that true.
It also says that Sciarrino's 5th sonata was written for him - is there a recording?
He performed a lot of modern music that he did not record in the studio. Pirate live recordings may start appearing now.
Quote from: Todd on March 23, 2024, 07:06:06 AMTwo titans of the piano gone in just over a week. A crummy March.
RIP Mr Pollini.
Who was the other titan that died recently?
Quote from: San Antone on March 24, 2024, 11:02:57 AMWho was the other titan that died recently?
Byron Janis.
Quote from: Todd on March 24, 2024, 11:36:35 AMByron Janis.
Ah, yes - I had seen that but had forgotten. Thanks.
A Pollini memoir. 1982, a few days following Rubinstein's death. Pollini comes to Tel Aviv with a 2/3 days notice for an in memoriam recital. Friday afternoon. Mann auditorium fully packed. Symphonic Etudes op.13 and Brahms Op. 118/119. The Brahms stands as the greatest live piano performance I've ever attended. Pity he didn't record it
Quote from: pianoforever on March 24, 2024, 01:31:38 PMA Pollini memoir. 1982, a few days following Rubinstein's death. Pollini comes to Tel Aviv with a 2/3 days notice for an in memoriam recital. Friday afternoon. Mann auditorium fully packed. Symphonic Etudes op.13 and Brahms Op. 118/119. The Brahms stands as the greatest live piano performance I've ever attended. Pity he didn't record it
I have a recording of him playing Brahms op 119 in Salzburg in 1989, a concert with Schoenberg op 19, two Stockhausen Klavierstucke and the Hammerklavier. I agree that his rather patrician style is good in late Brahms - as was Rubinstein. You're welcome to the files if you want.
Disturbing account of his last London concert - possibly his final concert ever. I missed it
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/06/26/london-salutes-a-legend-maurizio-pollini-the-story-of-a-miracle-by-antonio-morabito/
This will give you a flavour
. . .Double-checking the program to see if I remember correctly. No mistake, he's playing another piece. But what?After a very short time I understand that Pollini is improvising. Rapid arpeggios and harmonic sequences that occasionally recall passages from the Fantasy but nothing that has to do with a real piece nor with the Fantasy.The atmosphere is surreal.My heart is pounding, I empathize with him, I can't believe it's really happening.The great Pollini forgot the beginning of Schumann's Fantasy.The confirmation comes when he stops playing and in a great state of confusion brings his hands to his head as if to say: "what's wrong with me?". . .Pollini stands up, tired, weary, angry, incredulous and extremely sad.The entire audience bursts into thunderous applause, the maestro almost in tears is forced to bow down and gestures with his hands as if to say "I'm sorry, forgive me".And here the public does something unthinkable: they all stand up, stalls, stage,anyone, even the hall staff, in an ovation that I have personally never seen in my life!At that moment it was the piano world, and not only,present in London that embraced the sacrosanct fragility of a man who is a giant, but still a man and, with that embrace, they were reminding him of it.Pollini leaves the scene but the public doesn't stop cheering him on. They praises the great man but also the great pianist that he is.It won't be a performance to compromise a stratospheric career!
The Milanese pianist returns with a page turner and the concert continues.The Fantasy ends which is affected by the initial event but which in any case is completed with dignity . . .
Quote from: Mandryka on March 25, 2024, 02:15:17 AMDisturbing account of his last London concert - possibly his final concert ever. I missed it
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/06/26/london-salutes-a-legend-maurizio-pollini-the-story-of-a-miracle-by-antonio-morabito/
This will give you a flavour
. . .Double-checking the program to see if I remember correctly. No mistake, he's playing another piece. But what?After a very short time I understand that Pollini is improvising. Rapid arpeggios and harmonic sequences that occasionally recall passages from the Fantasy but nothing that has to do with a real piece nor with the Fantasy.The atmosphere is surreal.My heart is pounding, I empathize with him, I can't believe it's really happening.The great Pollini forgot the beginning of Schumann's Fantasy.The confirmation comes when he stops playing and in a great state of confusion brings his hands to his head as if to say: "what's wrong with me?". . .Pollini stands up, tired, weary, angry, incredulous and extremely sad.The entire audience bursts into thunderous applause, the maestro almost in tears is forced to bow down and gestures with his hands as if to say "I'm sorry, forgive me".And here the public does something unthinkable: they all stand up, stalls, stage,anyone, even the hall staff, in an ovation that I have personally never seen in my life!At that moment it was the piano world, and not only,present in London that embraced the sacrosanct fragility of a man who is a giant, but still a man and, with that embrace, they were reminding him of it.Pollini leaves the scene but the public doesn't stop cheering him on. They praises the great man but also the great pianist that he is.It won't be a performance to compromise a stratospheric career!
The Milanese pianist returns with a page turner and the concert continues.The Fantasy ends which is affected by the initial event but which in any case is completed with dignity . . .
What a troubling and moving account that is. I hope Pollini was able to take the clear message from the audience, 'We don't care, we don't care, we're just grateful for your existence!' The iniquities of ageing on the body and mind are well documented, but communal compassion for its ravages is given a rare chance to express itself unmistakably when its manifestation is so public.
Quote from: Mandryka on March 25, 2024, 02:15:17 AMDisturbing account of his last London concert - possibly his final concert ever. I missed it
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/06/26/london-salutes-a-legend-maurizio-pollini-the-story-of-a-miracle-by-antonio-morabito/
This will give you a flavour
. . .Double-checking the program to see if I remember correctly. No mistake, he's playing another piece. But what?After a very short time I understand that Pollini is improvising. Rapid arpeggios and harmonic sequences that occasionally recall passages from the Fantasy but nothing that has to do with a real piece nor with the Fantasy.The atmosphere is surreal.My heart is pounding, I empathize with him, I can't believe it's really happening.The great Pollini forgot the beginning of Schumann's Fantasy.The confirmation comes when he stops playing and in a great state of confusion brings his hands to his head as if to say: "what's wrong with me?". . .Pollini stands up, tired, weary, angry, incredulous and extremely sad.The entire audience bursts into thunderous applause, the maestro almost in tears is forced to bow down and gestures with his hands as if to say "I'm sorry, forgive me".And here the public does something unthinkable: they all stand up, stalls, stage,anyone, even the hall staff, in an ovation that I have personally never seen in my life!At that moment it was the piano world, and not only,present in London that embraced the sacrosanct fragility of a man who is a giant, but still a man and, with that embrace, they were reminding him of it.Pollini leaves the scene but the public doesn't stop cheering him on. They praises the great man but also the great pianist that he is.It won't be a performance to compromise a stratospheric career!
The Milanese pianist returns with a page turner and the concert continues.The Fantasy ends which is affected by the initial event but which in any case is completed with dignity . . .
I hope it was all recorded, it would make for probably the most sensational and fascinating recording ever made bar Lipatti's last recital.
Quote from: Mandryka on March 25, 2024, 02:15:17 AMDisturbing account of his last London concert - possibly his final concert ever. I missed it
I wasn't there either, but TBH it doesn't really come as a surprise - either the performance or the audience response.
His recitals used to be one of the highlights of the year, which I would never miss. But then came an all-Beethoven recital in which there were just too many mistakes, some quite egregious. And the next time was an all-Chopin recital - which was OK - but they were all long-time warhorse pieces that he could surely have played in his sleep, and the whole thing had the feel of a
Greatest Hits farewell tour - one was responding to all the great experiences he had given us over the years, rather than what was happening in the moment. So I decided to call it a day at that point. Watching a great artist in decline is not something I particularly want to do.
He was much loved here and will be hugely missed.
I never had the privilege of hearing him perform live, but I have treasured many of his recordings, not the least of which being the set of Beethoven Late Sonatas recorded in the 1970's.
Quote from: ultralinear on March 25, 2024, 03:49:55 AMHe was much loved here and will be hugely missed.
Absolutely. The last time I saw him was just before Covid - January or February 2020 I think, I was really impressed by the number of younger people in the audience at RFH - presumably many of them piano students. That being said I was right at the top, in the one and nines, to use one of my grandmother's expressions.
I was with an elderly Italian friend, now passed away but at the time he was in his late 80s, maybe as late 89. At the end of the concert, Debussy and Chopin, he grouched "He ain't no Michelangeli!" That comparison must have plagued him. I noticed on his Italian Wikipedia he's reported as saying that the one thing he learned from ABM was a fabulous way of playing trills - I don't know if that's damning with feint praise.
Quote from: Mandryka on March 25, 2024, 06:06:13 AMAbsolutely. The last time I saw him was just before Covid - January or February 2020 I think, I was really impressed by the number of younger people in the audience at RFH - presumably many of them piano students. That being said I was right at the top, in the one and nines, to use one of my grandmother's expressions.
I was with an elderly Italian friend, now passed away but at the time he was in his late 80s, maybe as late 89. At the end of the concert, Debussy and Chopin, he grouched "He ain't no Michelangeli!" That comparison must have plagued him. I noticed on his Italian Wikipedia he's reported as saying that the one thing he learned from ABM was a fabulous way of playing trills - I don't know if that's damning with feint praise.
Correct, he wasn't a Michelangeli though I suspect that he might have tried to be. If you hypercritically analyse ABMs playing you could possibly consider it dry and cold which was an accusation thrown at Pollini on many occasions. However, you can't apply that to ABM. While his playing was very economical it seemed to get to the depth of the music. I remember hearing his YT video of the first Ballade and he just simply drew me right into the heart of the work.
Pollini never did that for me. I wonder what Pollini might have been like if he hadn't had Michelangeli as his teacher and mentor after the 1960 Chopin win because the Pollini that emerged after his post Chopin Competition sabbatical was certainly not the one everyone heard in Warsaw.
What I would love to hear is the rumored Klavierstücke, not just partial boots from live recordings, but the full thing that DG is supposed to have recorded.
Quote from: Atriod on March 25, 2024, 12:58:41 PMWhat I would love to hear is the rumored Klavierstücke, not just partial boots from live recordings, but the full thing that DG is supposed to have recorded.
Supposed to have recorded when? He supposedly vetoed the release?
Quote from: Spotted Horses on March 25, 2024, 01:06:20 PMSupposed to have recorded when? He supposedly vetoed the release?
It would have been decades ago at least early digital era, rumor is DG didn't want to release it. But I have also read that they didn't want him to record it and a recording might not exist.
There is some indeterminate music in the klavierstucke - no recorded example exists of Pollini playing that sort of composition as far as I know. I'd always assumed that the reason he didn't play Boulez 3 was that he was uncomfortable with the indeterminacy.
Quote from: Holden on March 25, 2024, 12:15:26 PMthe Pollini that emerged after his post Chopin Competition sabbatical was certainly not the one everyone heard in Warsaw.
That's an interesting idea. Here's his 1960 competition recording if anyone wants to think about it (I'm going to bed!)
Quote from: Iota on March 25, 2024, 02:56:25 AMWhat a troubling and moving account that is. I hope Pollini was able to take the clear message from the audience, 'We don't care, we don't care, we're just grateful for your existence!' The iniquities of ageing on the body and mind are well documented, but communal compassion for its ravages is given a rare chance to express itself unmistakably when its manifestation is so public.
The better way to express this compassion had been if Pollini's agent (et al) had realized earlier that it was time to stop planning recitals, and retire in peace. I have a hard time believing a perfectionist artist like Pollini (who nixed many recordings because they weren't flawless) took away from this catastrophic recital "People don't care, they love me anyway", rather than "I failed at Schumann." He cared deeply about this.
There is something ghoulish in audiences insisting on deeply aged performers to keep going on because of some attachment to the known and familiar faces. They want to see 'the last recital'. Well, they did. Some conductors come to mind, too...
Quote from: Herman on March 27, 2024, 01:47:36 AMThe better way to express this compassion had been if Pollini's agent (et al) had realized earlier that it was time to stop planning recitals, and retire in peace. I have a hard time believing a perfectionist artist like Pollini (who nixed many recordings because they weren't flawless) took away from this catastrophic recital "People don't care, they love me anyway", rather than "I failed at Schumann." He cared deeply about this.
There is something ghoulish in audiences insisting on deeply aged performers to keep going on because of some attachment to the known and familiar faces. They want to see 'the last recital'. Well, they did. Some conductors come to mind, too...
Perhaps that is true. I'd agree that an event such as this is undesirable for everyone. But perhaps Pollini himself wanted to give the recital, and without the benefit of hindsight, I imagine it would be rather difficult to insist he didn't. Or perhaps somebody tried to dissuade him and he went ahead with it anyway, I have no idea.
My point was that as it
did happen, I hoped the audience reacting with such obvious compassion and love, was some balm to him, if not immediately then at some point.
Quote from: Herman on March 27, 2024, 01:47:36 AMThe better way to express this compassion had been if Pollini's agent (et al) had realized earlier that it was time to stop planning recitals, and retire in peace. I have a hard time believing a perfectionist artist like Pollini (who nixed many recordings because they weren't flawless) took away from this catastrophic recital "People don't care, they love me anyway", rather than "I failed at Schumann." He cared deeply about this.
There is something ghoulish in audiences insisting on deeply aged performers to keep going on because of some attachment to the known and familiar faces. They want to see 'the last recital'. Well, they did. Some conductors come to mind, too...
I think there is no need to expect technical perfection from a great pianist, especially one who is no longer young. We're talking about a human, not a machine. Or impeccable memory, for the same reason. Even young pianists often play from notes. There is a special charm in imperfections and faults. Pianistic wabi-sabi.
Quote from: Herman on March 27, 2024, 01:47:36 AMThere is something ghoulish in audiences insisting on deeply aged performers to keep going on because of some attachment to the known and familiar faces. They want to see 'the last recital'. Well, they did. Some conductors come to mind, too...
You make it sound as if Pollini was a brainless and faithful executant of the will and wishes of a sadistic audience and had no say whatsoever in when, where and what to play...
Audiences accepted pianists playing with the sheet music (Richter did it for a long time) or avoiding pieces of a high difficulty (e.g. Horszowski who played into his 90s but AFAIK certainly not the Schumann Fantasy).
Nobody minds artists making mistakes. It's all part of the variability in the moment of live performance, which is what makes it worth going out instead of staying home all the time listening to records, perfect though those performances may be.
I was once at a recital by a young Ukrainian pianist (name escapes me), which was going fine until she finished with Prokofiev's Sonata No.7, the finale of which (Precipitato) seems to be viewed by some artists as a demonstration piece, the issue being not so much the speed as the cross-rhythms, which are ferocious. She set off at a phenomenal pace - perhaps unwisely - because about halfway through she just lost it for a moment, and - as is the way with this piece - it threw her off like a bucking bronco. She stopped - collected herself - then started again from the beginning - still at an ambitious speed - but got no distance at all before collapsing completely, at which point she stood up and ran off stage. There was a pause of a few minutes, during which the audience didn't know if that was it for the night - but then she reappeared, to a rousing cheer - sat down, set off again at a more measured (but still brisk) pace, got all the way through to the end, and while the last note was still sounding she jumped up and ran off. The audience gave her a tremendous ovation, which she did not come back on stage to receive.
Audiences are very sympathetic. We know how hard this is.
When a notorious perfectionist such as Pollini veers off-piste in the middle of the Appassionata, even momentarily, it delivers a jolt, especially if it seems part of a pattern. The imperfection doesn't matter in the slightest to the audience, but they know how much it will to him.
Quote from: AnotherSpin on March 28, 2024, 03:08:24 AMI think there is no need to expect technical perfection from a great pianist, especially one who is no longer young. We're talking about a human, not a machine. Or impeccable memory, for the same reason. Even young pianists often play from notes. There is a special charm in imperfections and faults. Pianistic wabi-sabi.
Cortot is a perfect example of this happening - some fumbles but the overall result is great music.
I saw Pollini playing Debussy recital just a few years ago, in Chicago. When he stood up and walked--to take a bow, and leave and come back for his encore--he doddered like a zombie. But, when he sat down and played, he was like a God.
Quote from: Mookalafalas on April 02, 2024, 02:41:47 AMI saw Pollini playing Debussy recital just a few years ago, in Chicago. When he stood up and walked--to take a bow, and leave and come back for his encore--he doddered like a zombie. But, when he sat down and played, he was like a God.
I was pretty addicted to his CD of Debussy's Preludes Book 2, something that I overlooked and only discovered a couple of years ago. I normally don't like Book 2 played at that tempo, but there was something just spell binding about them. I could never stop to listen to just one or two preludes, I'd invariably end up listening to the whole CD. His phrasing, accents, powerful left hand chords, the way he'd pause for the briefest moments to let something echo out (reminiscent of Richter playing Clair de lune), it was all just magical. Never heard En blanc et noir as good as the one on that disc either. I'm glad we have son who is also a massive talent and seems to have that same textural fidelity of Maurizio.
Him and Lupu are my one and two regrets for not seeing live. Now I never hesitate, even if it means international travel.
Anyway, I'm grateful we eventually got Debussy Preludes, Book II, but sadly not Bach WTC Book II (until the artificial intelligence mob claims to have a simulation of Pollini).