Customer Reviews

Chopin: Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 & 3

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Maurizio Pollini is one of the most important pianists of this century, and this is one of his finest recordings. His approach to these familiar pieces is characteristically revelatory. As always, Pollini's supernatural control is fully at the service of a commanding musical sensibility to which sentimentality and neurosis are utterly foreign. He can play with a devastating power and intensity, of course - have movements 1 & 2 of the Bb minor sonata ever been rendered with such cosmic savagery? - but he is just as capable of heartbreaking lyricism, as in the hypnotic middle section of the Funeral March or the Largo of the B minor.

Oddly enough, Pollini is often criticized for being 'cold'. His remarkable memory, control, and architectural sense of a piece can strike the casual listener as premeditated, it seems. In fact, his control permits him an astonishing degree of freedom, and his live performances are spontaneous and deeply felt. There is more to Maurizio Pollini than his celebrated technique, and these recordings show that he is one of the tenderest, most deeply committed pianists on record. A must-buy!

Pollini's is easily the best interpretation of these sonatas I've ever heard. The standard take on these works is that they don't really have a coherent structure or traditional sense of development, and that Chopin just threw a bunch of brilliant but nevertheless disparate pieces together. In Pollini's hands the sustained unity of both is never in doubt. The "Funeral March" Sonata is miraculous. The first two movements have a wild, almost insane abandon about them, which make the hushed atmosphere of the slow movement even more menacing and intense. It's what I'd somewhat melodramatically call a dance of death in four movements. To be both manic and superbly controlled with one's playing seems a contradiction in terms, but believe me, Pollini does it. The third sonata is virtually unknown, but it is a lot like Chopin's other late work (the Bacarolle, the fourth Ballade) with its introspective, serene and meditative qualities. Although it's completely different in mood and tone from the other sonata, Pollini again is equal to the task. Pollini's Chopin is unique, and his rendition of the more intellectual works like the Etudes and the Preludes is second to none. Now he's shown what he can do with another dimension of Chopin, and to truly appreciate these sonatas, it's essential to listen to what he achieves here.

First, let me say I own and have heard many, many, many performances of these two sonatas. I don't think any serious performer could stake a claim to pianistic fame without coming to grips with them. Many try, but only few succeed.

This is one of the successes. The first time I heard this recording, I was simply blown away. Even two decades later, this recording amazes me. Why? In it, Pollini demonstrates total command of his instrument in the service of a piercingly unique interpretation of Chopin's world. Other pianists may give you technical perfection or they may give you stunning interpretation, but rarely do you get both. Let's not forget Pollini exploded into international prominence by taking first place in the 1965 Chopin competition. I don't think the judging panels at these competitions are taken in by technical brilliance alone. Something more is asked and Pollini provided it in spades.

I do not understand why some people dismiss Pollini as too perfect, too cold, too rational. I think it's partly because so many people demand Chopin be interpreted in only one way - precious and delicate. The premise of Romanticism was the power and importance of human emotion and feeling in direct challenge to the depressing, dehumanizing forces taking place in the 19th century. Perhaps that's why we still like music of the Romantic period - we live in the dismal triumph of rationalism. Why limit Chopin's expression to precious and delicate? Why can't it be (and for Chopin, it was) a powerful statement? Pollini's performance of these works exemplifies the power and intensity of feeling: it probes, argues, demands, doubts, regroups, and never gives in.

I've had the pleasure of hearing Pollini perform three or four times in the last twenty years. He is alleged to be especially "cold" in his Beethoven performances, but his Beethoven one night brought me to tears in the concert hall.

Everyone is entitled to their Chopin (or Beethoven, or fill-in-the-blank) interpretation preferences, but it's a mistake to limit yourself to just one. I love Pollini's Chopin recordings, but I also love and appreciate some of the Chopin recordings of other pianists.

But make no mistake - this recording is one of the greatest Chopin performances ever committed to disc.

There MAY well be many 'technical Pollinis' these days.
However, to come to the level of interpretation of Pollini in these two Chopin Sonatas, far less than a couple.
The first 'living' pianist that might come to such a mature reading of Chopin's two sonatas is Fou T'song.
Pollini recently reissued the No. 2 Sonata (2008). Even so, this earlier reading is already a piece of well-nigh perfect performance.
He doesn't have the 'romanticist' approach to Chopin, and one really wonders, upon listening to Pollini's Chopin, whether the 'romantic' free-rythm, tinkling Chopin IS Chopin afterall, or at the very least, is that representative of Chopin.
Nor do I consider Pollini's approach to Chopin 'modernist'. He may well be an exponent of modern composers' works, but that clearly has nothing to do with his interpretations of classical-romantic works. He can be as lyrical as any 'romantic' pianist, and as 'classical' as the most strictly adherent classical interpretor.
And yet, despite all these, there is NEVER any thing that is 'straight-jacketed' about Pollini's approaches to the music he makes.
His readings always stem from the inner conviction and emotional committment.
IF one thinks that there ARE many Pollinis these days, he could NOT have been more wrong.

This is the recording I own of the two great Chopin sonatas. The performance is technically flawless, but at times I wish for a little more passion. Perhaps Argerich or Rubinstein does better in this regard?

Critics hold the Sonata in B flat minor up as one of the greatest works in Chopin's oeuvre, although from the start it has been argued that it consists of four disparate pieces rather than a sonata in the traditional sense. Indeed, I enjoy the first two movements immensely, but find the last two to be somewhat disappointing. The funeral march is justly famous, but it does not connect in my mind with the previous movements. And the last movement seems downright repugnant to me.

In disagreement with the experts, I prefer the Sonata in B minor. It just fits together better as an overall program. I am drawn to it like few masterpieces in the piano literature.

The first movement has much beautiful romantic writing, particularly from the second subject to the end of the exposition. Critics seem to dislike the development section, but I have come to expect less in this regard from Chopin than from say Beethoven. The essence of Chopin's music is the magical writing for the piano, which is filled with surprised that can brings tears to your eyes.

The scherzo second movement has a very lightly played arabesque figure. It is challenging to get this to sound right. The trio is pervaded by an intense feeling of calm.

The Largo is the emotional center of the B minor and the outer section is unbelievably touching. The middle section is masterfully written, but seems to drag in Pollini's performance.

This sets the stage for a short bravura finale which must be kept at an even tempo to build inexorably to its magnificent climax.

I like the B minor sonata better than any of the other romantic sonatas, such as those of Liszt or Brahms. It is in the same league as the best Beethoven sonatas and holds up well under repeated listening.

Maurizio Pollini is a pianist with a very wide open view of the repertory. A lot of pianists who are known for their modernist chops, stay away from the great Romantics like Chopin, Liszt and Schumann. Pollini, unlike Glenn Gould for instance, has embraced all the great Romantic composers.

The imagination of the Romantics is a far cry from the rhetoric of the modernists and Pollini is unafraid to showcase his immense technique in Chopin, just as he unafraid to explore Schoenberg, Boulez or Luigi Nono.

I have to admit that Pollini's take on these two sonatas and especially the funeral march sonata is much more intense and penetrating than most pianists who specialize in Romantic piano literature. Pollini has a mastery of structure that escapes most others.

This is one of the finest performances of these pieces you'll ever find. The ultra-famous funeral march movement is particularly full of dramatic contrast. The stunning final movement of that sonata is not articulated as cleanly as I would have liked but that's a fault more on DG's recording than Pollini's playing. The sound is of mostly good quality which has some digital harshness here and there but nothing serious to detract from the monumental playing that you're getting.

These recordings have also been re-released in a 2CD set of Chopin sonatas and variations, so if you can't find a used copy of this CD, try that set instead.

There seems to be a whole generation of Pollinis these days. That is far indeed from being any kind of misfortune. The current generation of piano players shows a command of the instrument that was still a rarity when Pollini first dawned over the international musical scene at 17 years old, with a performance of Chopin's E minor concerto that I suspect may be, to this day, the best thing he ever did.

His Chopin sonatas are very fine, of course, but fine performances of standard romantic fare of this kind are now as the sands of the sea without number. We are in the lucky position of being able to set very high criteria in choosing recordings to live with, and although I'm more than happy to add Pollini's accounts of these sonatas to my collection, they are not going to be the versions that I return to most frequently. I have a slight problem with the recorded sound, for one thing. It is good, but a little too resonant. I wouldn't dream of suspecting that a player of Pollini's accomplishment was going a little bit heavy on the sustaining pedal, but if I had not known who was playing that thought might have crossed my mind. It comes on top of a slight but definite sense of heaviness in his rhythm that can only be coming from him, and from a certain lack of boldness and forwardness in his touch. The funeral march, for one thing, is played in an unusually hushed pianissimo. It's an interesting effect, but nothing seems to me particularly to call for it, and I can't really perceive any great benefit to the music from it. The scherzo of the B minor is taken very fast and with unsurpassable dexterity, but the effect doesn't remotely equal the cascade of jewels that pours from under the right hand of Cziffra, whose speed is just the tiniest fraction slower. I've let the cat out of the bag already. My standard of comparison in these sonatas is Cziffra, and for reasons that to me seem particularly strong.

For many years I (and I would guess many others) have taken Rubinstein as the classic in these two wonderful sonatas. He is a master among masters of melody, and there is nothing even slightly wilful or perverse in the way he goes about them. In the strange last movement of the B flat minor he allows himself just a little variation from the composer's unvaried pianissimo marking, but so does nearly everyone else, including Cziffra who produces one spectacular if unmarked surprise near the end. Pollini sticks to the letter of the score. No possible exception can be taken - but, but, but -- something is missing too. I may be right or wrong in detecting the influence of Rubinstein here and there, and Pollini's technical advantage shows in the last movement of the B minor, but to try to `out-standard', so to speak, performances that were very normal in the first place carries a certain risk of dullness, and it has not been totally avoided. For me there are a few traps in the Chopin sonatas, one being that, like Schumann, I can't abide the funeral march - except played by Cziffra. Happily Pollini omits the repeats both in that and in the scherzo. Michelangeli observes every last one, so that the march, wonderfully though it's executed, seems to last ten years. I still feel that `the interest retires' somewhat with Pollini, although not for quite so long. Nor do I like the repeat made in the first movement, although I found myself, to my own surprise, less resistant to the same feature in the B minor. In the B minor the three danger-points are the first part of the first movement's development section and the trio of the scherzo, both of which are liable to sound dry, and the slow movement in general, which can easily outstay its welcome. In the first movement and scherzo Pollini deals with the problems well, better than Lipatti does in my own opinion, but in the largo we are back with the familiar menace of somnolence - beautifully but rather dutifully performed.

From Cziffra I have two performances of the B flat minor and one of the B minor, and the set to get is a 2-disc EMI issue containing both sonatas and a certain amount of other Chopin. The recorded sound is not third-millennium stuff, but I prefer it to what Pollini is given by DG here. I don't like Cziffra best in every last detail. At the outset of the Doppio movimento in the B flat minor a few notes don't register very clearly, whether that is down to player or recording, or indeed just to my ears. In the last movement of the same sonata you may or may not care for the way he does it. Nobody has ever equalled Michelangeli's weird, gliding, deep-toned reading, but if Michelangeli has a rival here it is precisely Cziffra who takes a completely different view, and a very original and striking one. What has me awarding the prize to Cziffra here is the funeral march and the effortless way he handles the big chomping chords that come round twice in the first movement, but in the B minor he knocks every other account I have ever heard sideways. The problematical sequences in the first two movements are handled with straightforward eloquence, and in the largo we hear that innocent cantabile that marks out Cziffra at his greatest as a true child of the gods. Pollini's reading seems slightly worthy in the first movement too when set against the alertness and imagination of Cziffra's rhythm and phrasing.

I have just ordered Argerich's performances of these sonatas too. She may of course overturn my present view, and I shall report in due course. However I know who she has to beat.

This excellent recording of Chopin's two great sonatas shows how a great pianist can renew two of the most played pieces in the pianistic repertoire. I loved this recording because, first of all, Pollini's fantastic mechanism makes it a big thrill-ride. In the past, going to Pollini recitals I have not been impressed with his musical talent. Though he has always had the best technique- even Artur Rubinstein, a judge, said it when Pollini won the Chopin Competition of Warsaw when he was only 18. But what about Mr. Pollini's ability to convey a feeling of beauty and nuance in a piece? Of course he has always lacked in this respect, but this Chopin CD shows more in that direction. He does take time in the dramatic middle movements of the Sonatas to relax, but I get the feeling that he doesn't quite relax enough...Anyhow, this recording is worth listening to even if it does have a few ways to improve.