Technique and/or soul? (Pollini et al.)

[smittims]

Quite so; it's unfair to try to sum him up in one word. Incidentally, he recorded the Chopin Preludes twice, in 1974 and 2011, and the two interpretations are interestingly different (as was the world in 1974, for that matter!)

Sorry to hear about your lost Lps. An old acquaintance of mine lost a lot when flooded in a basement in the 1970s; they included a lot of rare Supraphons. We could have a thread on that: 'recordings I have lost'.

[silvestrione]

I treasure a live off-air Pollini account of the Chopin Preludes, coupled with the Stravinsky Petrouchka Three Pieces which is white-hot. I heard him do the Preludes, in the Chopin 'year', some time back. Did one of the Scherzi as his final encore, the one with the chorale and cascading runs. You don't forget those moments!

[richardfinegold]

Quite so; it's unfair to try to sum him up in one word. Incidentally, he recorded the Chopin Preludes twice, in 1974 and 2011, and the two interpretations are interestingly different (as was the world in 1974, for that matter!)

Sorry to hear about your lost Lps. An old acquaintance of mine lost a lot when flooded in a basement in the 1970s; they included a lot of rare Supraphons. We could have a thread on that: 'recordings I have lost'.

Thank you for alerting me to the later recording of the Preludes, as I was quite an aware of a newer recording. I would also like to hear the live account that Silvestrone referenced, perhaps he could provide more details.
II have just listened to the 2012 and seventies recordings consecutively. I particularly paid attention to Preludes 4 and 6, which I have been battering on the piano the past few months. It’s interesting that the earlier recording is the more thoughtful, small scaled, and less spontaneous of the two recordings. It’s almost as if he is overthinking and reacting to the criticism of his Etudes recording

[pastoralguy]

I’ve been listening to his Brahms concerti with The Berliner Philharmoniker under Abbado at work through the surprisingly adequate medium of my mobile‘phone. I have to say I find them very moving, especially the slow movements. A truly marvellous musician.

I once saw him in a cd/book shop in Milan and hastily purchased a cd of his and asked him to autograph it. He was quite touched and I had a very pleasant chat with him. He gave me advice about the best places to eat in Milan.

[silvestrione]

Thank you for alerting me to the later recording of the Preludes, as I was quite an aware of a newer recording. I would also like to hear the live account that Silvestrone referenced, perhaps he could provide more details.
I

That is a private recording I made, I'm afraid! It may even be on youtube, so much is, but I have had no reason to check.

[Expianoman]

The Gramophone famously said 'now Gileles is gone , Pollini is king'. Yet here's the Penguin Guide as early as the mid-70s , on his Beethoven opp. 109 and 110:

'Masterly pianism... in terms of keyboard control,not to mention commanding intelligence, his art silences criticism' (my italics!) '...every phrase is moulded with marmoreal perfection... but somehow one is left strangely unmoved. Pollini does not scale the heights or plumb the depths as did Schnabel... and in op.110 both Brendel and Bishop-Kovacevich (as he was then called) are to be preferred.'

That's very much of its time, not least the citing of Schnabel's 1932 recording as a lodestone (or is it a 'benchmark'?). But such opinions survive today.

I well remember the Pollini late Beethoven piano sonatas and did enjoy them in particular for their technical excellence, especially compared to a number of pianists at the time who seemed to mistake "diminuendo" with "slowing down" and "pianissimo" with "let's linger here", which gets a little grating imv. At least he gave each note its proper value.

I sold the set in the late 80's and essentially forgot about it until this thread. Reminding myself of his performances, on youtube, I do agree wholeheartedly that they are one-dimensional and unemotional. Furthermore, they are more about the notes than they are about phrasing and movement. Yes, technically excellent still, and close to the score. And for that I admired them at the time. But then I also had a sneaking admiration for Christoph Eschenbach's recording of the Hammerklavier - totally wrong, but magnificent in its own way.

BTW, I still have the Chopin recordings and occasionally listen to them. But then, there are many more ways Chopin can be played and enjoyed.

[silvestrione]

I well remember the Pollini late Beethoven piano sonatas and did enjoy them in particular for their technical excellence, especially compared to a number of pianists at the time who seemed to mistake "diminuendo" with "slowing down" and "pianissimo" with "let's linger here", which gets a little grating imv. At least he gave each note its proper value.

I sold the set in the late 80's and essentially forgot about it until this thread. Reminding myself of his performances, on youtube, I do agree wholeheartedly that they are one-dimensional and unemotional. Furthermore, they are more about the notes than they are about phrasing and movement. Yes, technically excellent still, and close to the score. And for that I admired them at the time. But then I also had a sneaking admiration for Christoph Eschenbach's recording of the Hammerklavier - totally wrong, but magnificent in its own way.

BTW, I still have the Chopin recordings and occasionally listen to them. But then, there are many more ways Chopin can be played and enjoyed.

Well, amazing. I couldn't disagree more! I was listening today to the Pollini 'Hammerklavier', and the slow movement, Adagio Sostenuto, Appassionato e con molto sentimento....so hard to do, so many pianists can't do it . Pollini has all that, done through the technical control, the lovely voicing of the chords tracing the harmonic movement, the varied sonorities falling into the asked-for patterns, the wonderful dialogue between the hands in the second subject, almost otherworldly, but heart-appeasing...And then so difficult to do, the collapsing passage that leads to the sublime stability of the chord sequence that brings time to stop back on d major....it's all there (the 'molto sentimento' in particular in the aria like second part of the main theme). In the coda, the dialogue breaks down into anguish, but then the repeats of the opening, the chords, so wonderfully voiced again, quieten the spirit until all fades away in barely audible arpeggios.

[smittims]

Thanks for pointing me to the Eschenbach Hammerklavier, Expianoman. I hadn't heard of it, but I'm always interested in fresh interpretations of this work, so I'll investigate.

[gradus]

Technique and Soul? Anderszewski came to mind, in particular his Bach partitas recording and especially the Sarabande from the sixth. His interpretation and the tonal resources of his modern piano allied to his impeccable technique produce an extraordinarily passionate and intense performance. Perhaps though not one for the purists.

[silvestrione]

Technique and Soul? Anderszewski came to mind, in particular his Bach partitas recording and especially the Sarabande from the sixth. His interpretation and the tonal resources of his modern piano allied to his impeccable technique produce an extraordinarily passionate and intense performance. Perhaps though not one for the purists.

[Mandryka]

My favourite Pollini is the 1960 Warsaw recital.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuOngmhaPmM

[french frank]

Pollini is often described as Apollonian, which I take to mean as he is on a throne in Mt. Olympus, viewed the petty emotions of mere humans with disdain and when playing seeking a god like level of technical perfection unsoiled by human considerations.

I don't think there's anything particularly 'godlike' intended. Apollonian is the rational, intellectual counter to the Dionysian passionate and emotional, something similar to Schumann's Eusebius and Florestan. That could be interpreted, kind of, as technique v soul. It's been quite interesting to see the adjectives used to describe Pollini's playing and its effect on the listener: the characteristics which one listener finds unappealing, makes another say 'I think I'd like that'.

[Mandryka]

I don't think you can judge Pollini through his studio recordings. He isn't at his best in the studio, and he wasn't always given particularly good sound by the DG engineers. I also think that generally his earlier recordings, which are often live, are more rewarding than his later ones.

As far as his technique is concerned, I am much more aware of its limitations than its strengths. I don't see him as a great colourist, and I don't hear him create interesting textures often, I don't hear great dynamic control - gorgeous pianissimos and rich fortes . I don't think his touch was specially beautiful, he doesn't dig deep into the chords or use piano resonances effectively. He was no Michelangeli, to take an obvious point of comparison.

I liked what he did in the concert hall well enough in Schubert and Schumann and Mozart. I'm not a great Beethovenian so I've never heard his op 110-111, but I have heard his Diabelli Variations in concert and it was pretty successful I think.

I think he basically played the score. He displays a very limited imagination. He's a come è scritto merchant - like Rubinstein, Toscanini, Godowsky, Walcha.

[Mandryka]

Pollini 1974 Chopin preludes. I'd say this is full of subtle and natural emotion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=bnXMX31ApWQ

[Roslynmuse]

Pollini 1974 Chopin preludes. I'd say this is full of subtle and natural emotion.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=bnXMX31ApWQ

Thanks for the link. I'll compare with the contemporaneous studio recording. I've been dipping into the Etudes and Polonaises from the same period and it has been a mixed experience.