Pollini

When did Maurizio Pollini get old? No matter, as his fingers sound young and spry in his new traversal of Chopin’s Nocturnes. Here is my Time Out New York review of the set. You can hear clips at the DG microsite.

Pollini plays Liszt and Chopin at Carnegie Hall on Sunday before travelling to Canada, Chicago, Maryland, and various European cities (tour dates here). Read the review of Pollini’s recent Boston recital by St. Botolph’s Town’s fabulous Mlle C .

In addition to his towering piano catalogue, Pollini leads a deft and beautiful reading of Rossini’s La donna del lago, an all-too-rarely heard masterpiece that New York City Opera mounts in 2006-07. (And speaking of Alexandrina Pendatchanska, NYCO’s Elena and scorching Ermione, did you notice that she sings Vitellia in the new Clemenza di Tito led by René Jacobs? Wow!)

Comments

[TomM]

I look forward to the Nocturnes. They seem ideal for MP's rather-- well, take your pick, patrician or emotionally distant-- temperment.

Am I the only listener who can't decide what to make of him after all these years? He can be so bland in the studio (e.g., the DG Chopin Sonatas 2&3). Then, there are his knock-out recitals. And records like his Beethoven Op. 101, one of the greatest piano recordings I know.

[Christina]

I was astonished to see him return to the stage all those times, just as calm and cheerful after the fifth encore as at the very beginning of the recital, which was some three hours earlier. His stamina is extraordinary, but he does look deceptively fragile. Hopefully he's a bit near-sighted, too: during each round of applause, another tenth or so of the audience snuck out. For shame, Boston!