The Olympian pianism of Maurizio Pollini brought formidable technique and a deliberately intellectual interpretation to the contemporary and traditional repertoire. Pollini widened the audience for modernist composers such as Pierre BOULEZ, and presented work of the classic and romantic periods in a new, clear light. He committed himself to penetrating through 19th-century performance traditions to reach the composers’ notes as purely as possible in the most authentic possible reconstruction of the score.
Pollini was born on January 5, 1942, in Milan, Italy. His father was an architect, one of the founders of the modernist Gruppo 7, and both parents were amateur musicians. Pollini’s love of music was encouraged from childhood, and he was given a recording of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos to console him from the pain of tonsillitis. He began piano lessons early, and, by the age of ten, he was giving recitals. He studied at Milan’s Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory with Carlo Lonati and Carlo Vidusso. He won a second place in the Geneva Competition, and he later won first place in the Ettore Pozzoli Competition in Seregno. At the age of 18, in 1960, he also won the prestigious Warsaw competition, playing the music of Frederic Chopin, including the complete book of 24 preludes.
Pollini remained distinguished for his interpretations of Chopin and, shortly after the Warsaw competition, made a recording of the E Minor Concerto, which some critics feel has never been surpassed. Although in demand as a soloist after the competition, Pollini took the risky step of withdrawing from the concert stage in order to continue studies with Arturo Benedetti MICHELANGELI, and to rethink his approach to music, as he did not want to be known only as an interpreter of Chopin. From the mid-1960s, Pollini played regularly in Europe and America, and was considered to be one of the most talented and distinguished performers of his generation. Pollini never performed a work until he had carefully studied many editions of the text, with the aim of arriving as near as possible to the composer’s intentions. He developed a technique of playing smoothly and suavely rather than overwhelming the listener with athletic pianism. Among the works that best display Pollini’s approach are the sonatas of Beethoven, especially the last four, which are among the most introspective works of that composer. During the 1970s, Pollini, together with the composer Luigi NONO, was attracted to Socialist ideals, and played concerts for working people in the poorer districts of Milan.
Pollini made his American debut in 1968, and thereafter performed regularly at Carnegie Hall, where he presented traditional works, including the sonatas of Beethoven, and the works of new composers. In the late 1970s, he made a benchmark recording of Sergey PROKOFIEV’S Sonata No. 7. In 1987, the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra awarded him the Ehrenring (Golden Ring) for his performance of the Beethoven piano concertos in New York. The Beethoven sonatas remained a core part of his repertoire, and he performed the complete cycle, beginning in 1996 at the Royal Festival Hall in London, and then in major cities around the world. He has also recorded the Schubert sonatas and has also assembled a formidable repertoire of modern works, including Pierre Boulez’s challenging Second Sonata, the complete piano works of SCHOENBERG, and works by BERG, Nono, and STOCKHAUSEN.
He also earned recognition as a conductor of opera and orchestral works.
Jane Prendergast
SEE ALSO:
CHAMBER MUSIC; ORCHESTRAL MUSIC; ABBADO, CLAUDIO.
FURTHER READING
Kehler, George. The Piano in Concert, Vol. 2 (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1982).
SUGGESTED LISTENING
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 5; Brahms: Piano Concerto; Chopin: Piano Music Selections-, Nono: Sofferte onde serene; Schubert: Piano music; Schumann: Symphonic Etudes.