Maurizio Pollini Podcasts
Italian pianist and conductor (1942–2024)
- piano
- classical music
- Italy
- pianist, conductor, composer, musician, concertmaster
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2024-05-14
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Beethoven – The Late Sonatas Opp. 101 & 106 marks the completion of Maurizio Pollini’s survey of the five late piano sonatas. His landmark 1970s recordings of these works were recognized at the time with a Gramophone Award. A few years ago the pianist decided to revisit the five sonatas, and in 2019 made an acclaimed second recording of the final three at the Herkulessaal in Munich. Now he has returned to the same hall to record Opp. 101 and 106 – among the most technically challenging and musically adventurous works in the concert repertoire. Deutsche Grammophon will release his new album today.The quixotic nature of Beethoven’s A major Sonata, Op. 101 and the complexities of the “Hammerklavier” Sonata, Op. 106 offers infinite scope for interpretation. “Every Beethoven piano sonata is a different world,” observes Maurizio Pollini. “He finds a different character in each one, from the first to the last. Each is unique.” The A major Sonata, he adds, “is very free”. Drafted in the summer of 1815 and completed the following year, its four movements are markedly different in style and substance from those of the composer’s earlier sonatas for piano. “It’s a great challenge to understand and play it,” says Pollini.The scale of the challenge, however, pales beside that set by Beethoven in the “Hammerklavier” Sonata. The work was so difficult that it remained unperformed in public following its publication in 1819 until the young Franz Liszt showed the way seventeen years later at Paris’s Salle Érard. Pollini describes it as the “greatest Beethoven sonata”. Its slow movement alone is almost as long as all four movements of its companion piece on the album. “You can think also of the funeral march of the ‘Eroica’ Symphony – these are perhaps the two greatest movements Beethoven ever composed,” suggests the pianist. The transition into the fourth and final movement’s fugue, a sublime Largo, dissolves ordinary perceptions of time and space as if opening the door to an otherwise inaccessible spiritual dimension. It prepares the way for a three-voice fugue sustained and developed over a sequence of contrasting episodes that combine to lift the music out of its historic context and leave it sounding fresh for all time.Track Listing:1 Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101: I2 II3 III4 iV5 Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-Flat Major, Op. 106 Hammerklavier - I. Allegro6 II. Scherzo. Assai vivace7 III. Adagio sostenuto8 IV. Largo - Allegro risolutoHelp support our show by purchasing this album at:Downloads (classicalmusicdiscoveries.store) Classical Music Discoveries is sponsored by Uber. @CMDHedgecock#ClassicalMusicDiscoveries #KeepClassicalMusicAlive#LaMusicaFestival #CMDGrandOperaCompanyofVenice #CMDParisPhilharmonicinOrléans#CMDGermanOperaCompanyofBerlin#CMDGrandOperaCompanyofBarcelonaSpain#ClassicalMusicLivesOn#Uber Please consider supporting our show, thank you!Donate (classicalmusicdiscoveries.store) [email protected] album is broadcasted with the permission of Crossover Media Music Promotion (Zachary Swanson and Amanda Bloom).
Jess's guest this week is composer Isobel Waller-Bridge. Best known for her work in TV and film, Isobel has scored The Split, Fleabag, Emma, Vita & Virginia and many more, but she's also a prolific composer for the theatre and is known for her evocative contemporary classical and electronic music for the concert hall. Jess and Isobel sit down for a listening party of the music they love the most - Isobel offers some stunning moments of calm by Hinako Omori and Emily Hall and a tuba jam by Sons of Kemet, while Jess interupts the peace with Sibelius at his most joyously epic, an intimate song by Noah Yorke and possibly the funkiest string quartet ever written by Ravel. Playlist: EMILY HALL: Mantra SIBELIUS: Symphony no.2 - finale [Oslo Philharmonic, Klaus Mäkelä (conductor)] HINAKO OMORI: Yearning RAVEL: String Quartet - 2nd mvt 'Assez vif' [Quator Ebène] SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS: Open Your Eyes CHOPIN: Nocturne no.8 in D flat major, op.27 no.2 [Maurizio Pollini (piano)] NOAH YORKE: Trying too Hard (Lullaby) SONS OF KEMET: To Never Forget the Source
Chris and Sridhar discuss concerts during COVID, tips for writing program notes, buying a digital piano, the International Chopin Piano Competition, and the music of Frédéric Chopin in general. Join the discussion: Tweet us @shreggz and @chris_arkin Episode clips on Instagram @impolitelisten Useful links: International Chopin Piano Competition - wikipedia 2021 Chopin Piano Competition - full playlists Bruce Liu, first prize winner - first round Bruce Liu - second round Bruce Liu - final round Chopin Cello Sonata - Natalia Gutman and Sviatoslav Richter Kristin Zimerman plays Ballade no. 1 in G Minor Zimerman plays Ballade no. 4 in F Minor Zimerman plays Waltz in A-Flat Major (from 1975 Chopin Competition) Zimerman plays Mazurka in G Minor (from 1975 Chopin Competition) Zimerman plays Grande Polonaise Brillante (from 1975 Chopin Competition) Maurizio Pollini at the 1960 Chopin Competition Pollini plays Chopin Preludes Op. 28 Glenn Gould plays Chopin Piano Sonata no. 3 in B Minor Hershey Felder - wikipedia Hershey Felder - stream his shows on his website Hershey Felder in "Maestro: The Art of Leonard Bernstein"
Chris and Sridhar discuss big news in the classical music streaming world, Chris' first composition, composition technology, video game music, and the merits of the piano as an instrument. Email us your feedback: [email protected] Tweet us @impolitelisten Episode clips on Instagram @impolitelisten Useful Links: Primephonic statement on Apple Music Forest Morning by Chris Arkin Chris' website Video game music with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra Spitfire Audio E.T. bike chase scene Guy Michelmore How to Write a Classic Wild West Theme Philip Glass - Tirol Concerto for Piano and Orchestra @visakanv on Twitter "Do 100 Thing" Daniel Barenboim - Beethoven masterclass 1 Daniel Barenboim - Beethoven masterclass 2 Daniel Barenboim - Beethoven masterclass 3 Daniel Barenboim - Beethoven masterclass 4 Daniel Barenboim - Beethoven masterclass 5 Daniel Barenboim - Beethoven masterclass 6 Leonard Bernstein on Conducting Schumann Piano Sonata No. 1 - Maurizio Pollini Schumann Piano Sonata No. 1 - Andràs Schiff masterclass Emil Naoumoff plays Bach Preludes and Fugues Naoumoff plays Bach Passacaglia BWV 582 Tony Bennett sings I Love a Piano
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