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Thursday, May 4, 2017

Frédéric Chopin - Études (Maurizio Pollini)


Information

Composer: Frédéric Chopin
  • (01-12) 12 Études, Op. 10
  • (13-24) 12 Études, Op. 25

Maurizio Pollini, piano
Date: 1960
Label: Testament (recorded by EMI)
http://testament.co.uk/maurizio-pollini.html


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Review

First publication for the Etudes Pollini didn’t like

Here, remarkably, are Maurizio Pollini’s first thoughts on the Chopin Etudes. Recorded by EMI in 1960, the genesis of this disc is outlined by Tony Locantro in his accompanying essay, where he tells of an increasingly fraught situation. Even when the easy majority of great artists (Lipatti, Ashkenazy, Brendel, Larrocha and Gérard Souzay come to mind) are often dismissive of their earliest recorded efforts, it is surely astonishing that Pollini could reject his early superfine brilliance, his aristocratic musicianship, his patrician ideal in the Chopin Etudes. Yet his rejection was adamant. Later his switching of producer, piano and location became too much for the EMI team and, as their initial anxiety to accommodate their highly strung 18-year-old virtuoso waned, he left them for DG, his preferred company to this day.

Yet here, rescued by Testament, is a poetic intensity in the slower Etudes (most notably in the desolating Op 10 No 6) that later eluded him in his more objective DG recording. What superb articulacy in, say, Op 10 Nos 2, 4 and 5, and what awe-inspiring assurance and uncanny technical perfection in the treacherous double notes of No 7 (Chopin’s Toccata if you like). His pedalling is light, his sonority ‘white’ and crystalline, and if there is little of Cortot’s careless rapture or Cherkassky’s elfin propensity for mischief-making there is, overall, a near flawless balance of sense and sensibility. All lovers of great piano-playing will need to add this to their collection together with later Pollini, early Ashkenazy, Cortot and, most recently, Perahia. The recording captures much of Pollini’s pristine sound and there are sensible gaps between each Etude, allowing the listener to recover his breath before the start of the next marvel.

-- Bryce Morrison, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 7
http://classicalsource.com/db_control/db_cd_review.php?id=9936
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/oct/20/pollini-chopin-etudes-review
http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/Review/297491,chopin-etudes-opp-10-25-maurizio-pollini.aspx
http://www.allmusic.com/album/chopin-etudes-opp-10-25-mw0002279337
http://www.amazon.com/Chopin-Etudes-Op-10-25/dp/B005OJD8JM

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Frédéric Chopin (22 February or 1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era who wrote primarily for the solo piano. He gained and has maintained renown worldwide as one of the leading musicians of his era, whose "poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation". Chopin's music, his status as one of music's earliest superstars, his association (if only indirect) with political insurrection, his love life and his early death have made him a leading symbol of the Romantic era in the public consciousness. His works remain popular, and he has been the subject of numerous films and biographies of varying degrees of historical accuracy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Chopin

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Maurizio Pollini (born January 5, 1942 in Milan) is an Italian classical pianist. He won  the International Chopin Piano Competition in 1960. He studied with Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, from whom he is said to have acquired "a precise technique and emotional restraint". His recording for EMI and, since 1971, Deutsche Grammophon, won Pollini international acclaim. While known for possessing an exceptional technique, Pollini is sometimes accused of emotional conservatism. He has conducted both opera and orchestral music, sometimes leading the orchestra from the keyboard in concertos.

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