R e c o r d i n g o f t h e M o n t h
Ludwig van Beethoven: Pianosonatas nos. 28 - 32
Maurizio Pollini, piano
1997 (76/77). Deutsche Grammophon
(The Originals) (2 CD's) 449 740-2 G OR2
medium price
It is with a certain sense of awe that I present one of my favorite pieces of recording history. When Italian pianist Maurizio Pollini made the two recordings of Beethoven's five last pianosonatas in 1976 and 1977, he did so in an immortalizing manner. I have rarely heard music presented with such authority and immense insight. It seems virtually unthinkable to me to have these masterpieces played in any other way, which is, I know, a rather daring thing to say, as there are so many great performances by so many great pianists to chose from. One can of course to some extent argue that it all boils down to personal preference, but I feel that this recording elevates itself above mere taste. One feels the presence of indisputable greatness in every single note; formed, shaped and presented with an almost unbearable clarity and directness from Maurizio Pollini. His cold crystaline reading has stripped the music of all the layers of varnish left from earlier interpretations and recordings.
Much of the same clarity
can be found in the highly acclaimed recordings from American pianist Richard
Goode (Elektra-Nonesuch). Goode's interpretations are dazzling in their
"classisist" manner, but they still come short of Pollini's probings
into the deeper layers of the music. He continiues where other pianists
surrender either from the lack of understanding or the capability to face
the profundity of these works. Pollini pulls with him the beauty, the sorrow
and the terror from the depths of his readings and presents them to us
in the most sublime manner. There are no attempts to force the emotional
storms and pathos on the listener. Pollini as Beethoven himself, presents
us with mere glimpses of absolute beauty, melancolia and rage; you
can just barely make it out in the white of your eye. Such is the greatness
of this music and these particular recordings.
The
A-major sonata, op. 101 (no. 28) stands somewhat apart from the other four
in its relative lightheartedness and innocense. It is as the "Hammerklavier"-sonata
a four movement work, and is thus an example of Beetoven the revolutionary's
deep changes in one of the most basic forms of art music. His opening up
of the traditional three movement sonata, makes way for the gradual fragmentation
of the rigidity of classisist form, in the emerging romanticism. The B-flat
major sonata, op. 106 (no. 29) perhaps better known as the "Hammerklavier"
or even "Grosse Sonate für das Hammerklavier" is one of the greatest
examples of the sonata genre, in all aspects. It is huge in stature and
takes almost three quarters of an hour to play. It contains some of the
highlights of pianism in its enormous 3rd. movement's calm beauty, and
the feriocity of the grand fugue in the finale. In this the pinnacle of
pianomusic one can hear Maurizio Poillini in his finest moments. The lingering
beauty of the Adagio and the immense and clear virtuosity of the fugue,
are out of this world.
The E-major and the A-flat major sonatas opp. 109 and 110 (nos. 30 and 31) are smaller than the two great ones they are squeezed in between. They do however contain the same greatness as their grander siblings, and they both posess a rare combination of charmfulness and sublime grandeur.
The last of the 32 pianosonatas Beethoven wrote, the C-minor op. 111 is a work of music that in my opinion cannot be overestimated. The two-movement masterpiece is one of those rare works of art that contains everything. The second movement, the Arietta has an overwhelming feeling of farewell that I have only encountered the like of in the final movement of Schubert's penultimate pianosonata (D.959). There is, after so much rage and despair, a calmness and feeling of reconcilliation and peace. A truly kathartic moment derived from the unique combination of Ludwig van Beethoven and Maurizio Pollini.
© 1998 Arne.Mork@hum.uit.no
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