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Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin:  Maurizio Pollini (piano) Royal Festival Hall.  Wednesday, 4.3 2009 (CC)


Maurizio Pollini began the Spring part of the South Bank’s International Piano Series with a frustratingly uneven recital. Moments of Pollini at his greatest vied with technical fudges and curious interpretative decisions to leave an unsettled, mixed residue.

Two Beethoven Sonatas formed the first half – Op. 31/2 (the so-called ‘Tempest”) and the “Appassionata”. In the first movement of the “Tempest”, Pollini emphasised the contrast between the Largo and the Allegro (incidentally, this movement was merely referred to as “Adagio” in the booklet, potentially very confusing for newcomers to the work). Despite some harsh fortes, the prevailing impression here was of an impulsiveness we rarely hear from Pollini. The development section was highly dynamic, with buzzing inner voices, making for maximum contrast to the long “recitative” – a moment of frozen time. The slow movement, in contrast, was austere in the extreme. Austerity did not mean that beauty was off the agenda, however (and, if one believed the booklet, this whole movement was off the agenda as the sonata was billed to only have two movements!). A wonderfully even finale, although arguably too fast, rounded off a mixed account.

It was interesting to compare Pollini’s “Appassionata” with the recent Perahia over at the Barbican last month. Both took a rather objectivised view of the central variations, Pollini even more so than Perahia. Nothing was below the mp/mf dynamic and moments traditionally associated with the most sublime beauty were distanced. Even the transition into the finale, normally a moment of Pollinian magic, lost its effect. Yet again there were compensatory factors: the G flat arpeggiation (second full phrase) was magnificently phrased, and Pollini imbued the prevailing repeated notes with real inner energy. Textures were always clear, even when dense and in the lower registers. Here Pollini was clearly superior to Perahia, whose reading deliberately moved away from the fire. Pollini’s finale, the perfect exemplar of his legendary finger strength, once more found the pianist taking risks, nowhere more so than in the coda.

The second part of the recital began with the Schumann Fantasy (Op. 17). Pollini seemed intent on invoking organ-like sonorities in chordal passages and contrasting this with moments of the utmost introspection in the first movement. The second movement, though, was rather careful with some untidy moments and it was only approximately half way through that the pianist found himself- one could almost identify the actual note at which this happened, so strong was the shift. The finale was the highpoint of the reading, with the music exhibiting a real sense of organic growth.

Finally, Chopin. The two Nocturnes of op. 27 were given gorgeous readings, with the left-hand setting up a pure bed of sound against which the right-hand could sing. Here was proof positive of the pure strength of Pollini’s legato. The B flat minor Scherzo held the greatest playing of the evening, with moments of near-genius in the imperious chords and the sparkling finger-work, and some of the ropiest, too in passages that simply did not come off.

It would be good, I would suggest, to hear some new encores from Pollini. The “Revolutionary” Etude and the first Ballade are now encore staples from this source, and, even if we heard a decidedly more unbuttoned Pollini in the Ballade, his repertoire is surely so large that he could profitably open up this aspect of his recitals.

Colin Clarke


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