Beethoven - Piano Sonatas Nos 28-32

Maurizio Pollini pf

DG 449 740-2GOR2 Buy now

(126’ · ADD) 

Recorded 1975-77.

This reissued DG Originals set makes an exceptionally neat package. Consistent praise has been heaped on these recordings since they won the Gramophone Instrumental Record Award in 1977. One of Pollini’s greatest strengths is his ability to stand up to the accumulated momentum of Beethoven’s structure, but he can also build on it so as to leave the impression of one huge exhalation of creative breath. In the first movement of the Hammerklavier the astonishing technical assurance has you on the edge of your seat with excitement. His controlled vehemence is without rival in the outer movements, and though he doesn’t get right to the bottom of No 29’s poetry, his far-sighted phrasing and paragraphing is again remarkable. 

In the last three sonatas there are others who stop to peer deeper into some of the psychic chasms, but Pollini’s mastery of integration and continuous growth, and his ability to hold potentially conflicting musical demands in balance, are again sources of wonderment. In terms of the qualities just mentioned, who is Pollini’s equal? Other than small touches of pre-echo in No 32, there’s nothing here to distract from the exalted quality of both the music and the playing.