Tour de Force…not from this planet…Sublime…Pollini’s Castle in the Sky, November 28, 2005
Reviewer: pianoman (new york) - See all my reviews
Since many people read these reviews as a source for deciding what to purchase (or not to purchase) I will start off by emphatically expressing that this one of the best piano performances/CDs of all time (and in the history of the piano most likely). There are not enough superlatives in the English vocabulary to describe this performance which is tantamount to elevating an earthly piano to the high heavens.
Etude = An instrumental piece, usually of some difficulty and most often for a stringed keyboard instrument, designed primarily to exploit and perfect a chosen facet of performing. (Groves)
Ok so Chopin’s etudes are not exactly Czerny but they are still etudes!
The etudes, in my opinion, belong to a certain subset of pieces that stretch the limits of the piano, specifically, and the art of pianism, in general. This subset does not necessarily have to be defined, but Liszt and Rachmaninof also fall under this category.
One of the distinct qualities of Pollini that separates him from the rest of the crowd is COMPOSURE. Pollini has the ability to nullify all the human tendencies/temptations that are destructive to the cause of pure music (fear of mistakes, inability to sustain tempo, the legitimate tensing of the hand after technically difficult passages, uneven pedalling, swallowing notes, etc…) Pollini plays the 24 Etudes with practically no mistakes (if one listens closely the only intermittent mistakes are extremely trivial to nonexistent - taking a nanosecond here and there to breathe).
The Chopin etudes are some of the most feared pieces in the piano world. Not for nothing we don’t have a complete strong recording of Rubinstein playing these.
Pollini presents a majestic, Olympian and masculine version of these pieces. His rendition in contrast to what his critics say (these critics always seem to be anonymous in nature… I would like to hear a substantive criticism of this rendition from a musicologist if possible) is emotional, just not sentimental (this draws him close to Richter). The pathos here derives from the notes themselves (and the score) and how the interplay with the other notes in a polyphonic, architectural way. These layers of sounds and the way Pollini constructs them is a manifestation of emotion through musical intelligence instead of showmanship. The HIGHEST level of emotion is when the emotion flows from the symmetry of the object itself in its most succinct, pure, and architectural form… and exposes the nakedness of these tunes in their glory. This is analogous to breaking a multi dimensional diamond to its elements (or any very complex physical compound), like a Kaleidoscope. More specifically it is obvious that Pollini mastered each element in its own right… the pedalling dynamics, each hand, the melodic structure, the harmonic developments. This is a much higher level of emotion than “trying” to be emotional (which is also a high level since many pianists play with little emotion). In fact, Neuhaus said similar things about Richter in his famous book on piano playing.
It is true that many pieces of Chopin are soft and fragile - the Nocturnes, the Mazurkas (these are pleasant pieces but rather simplistic at times), many of the waltzes… The Chopin Etudes though are considered monumental to a pianist’s pianism having that explosive mixture of everything - technique, virtuosity, polar opposite emotions… and this is what makes them so hard. One has to find the balance between the technical challenges and the wonderful melodies…
I could write a book on just the amazing musical miracle that is this Cd. When I first heard the Etude 1 Opus 10 I had to listen to it at least 100 times consecutively (I am not kidding) to even being to fathom what Pollini does here. Pollini’s playing of the first etude is just from another planet… and this after comparing closely to Watts, Berevosky, Freire, Richter, Wild, Ohlson, Zayas, Ashkenazy, Lorte, Arrau, Lugansky, Perahia,Cherkassy (who makes some pretty notable mistakes), and Gavrilov (who plays this well also)… Novaes, Chiu, Cziffra and Cortot ( I put these four in a separate category because their performance is absolutely unacceptable by any stretch of the imagination…I am not a diehard stickler of technique necessarily, but they play different chords and notes all together, I am not even sure they are playing Chopin at all… a real crime against this music… its almost laughable that people here can just “excuse” Cortot for practically making like 30-40 mistakes in one minute) and they are not even close AT ALL to Pollini. At some stage all of them either blatantly hit wrong notes or lose their cool/breath and have to hide it with pedalling/playing slower/speeding up (this is what I call the art of using rubato at times of need).
Pollini plays this grandiose - Pollini here is saying “I am the Napoleon of the piano.” Pollini brings the “hidden” tune that appears right before the descending arpeggios (in the right hand) end (and go back up afterwards) and not only illuminates this tune but also merges it with the passage in the left hand perfectly… all with perfect pedalling - giving it a monumental/ bell ringing texture. So you have a pianist that is playing fast, plus is able to play this hidden theme ( which is three notes per arpeggio - I can’t understand how he did this (maybe he is possessed of some extraterestrial force). He is the only pianist who really has complete control of these hidden tunes. Richter does less of this and highlights the tune in the left hand more. I have even heard Richter really struggle a little bit with this etude (and he is one of the most technically brilliant pianists of all time). Its a pleasure also to hear this being played without panting, incorporating staccato like phrases, uneven pedaling and wrong notes, of course. Some of these arpeggios are unbelievably difficult. Pollini’s playing of the revolutionary etude is much better than Perahias. Perahia and Ashkenazy at times play staccato instead of legato… and don’t accentuate the theme in the left hand… Arrau does this also (I really don’t like his version - he incorporates this staccato like legato at times).
Now, there is a review here that criticizes Pollini for not playing piano and staccato at the a minor arpeggio. So maybe wer should also not listen to Horowitz who made minor alterations of dynamics at times (this same reviewer reccommended Cortot who changes the actual NOTES). We can assume that pianists with the stature of Horowitz, Pollini, Perahia, and Richter have enough acumen to make small dynamic alterations, within reason (especially with Chopin). In fact Pollini does play this arpeggio slightly softer than the others. In addition dynamics is often a relative concept - piano is quiet RELATIVE to forte - there is no universal consent of what “quiet” is (again, within reason of course). For example, when there are two different cadenzas for a concerto and they both have different dynamics its at the pianists’ discretion to merge some ideas. Now all this in the grand scheme is ludicrous (this arpeggio lasts about 2 seconds in the span of a 50-60 minute CD) but I wanted to bring this issue to light.
What makes a superstar pianist is the ability to do something that someone else cannot do (this applies to art and probably to most, if not all discplines). Do you honestly think that Pollini could not have played staccato if he wanted to? Pollini takes these pieces to terrain for beyond mere staccato-legato quandaries.
Ok enough already. There is no “opinion” involved here. The vast majority of pianists are too scared to even record this whole cycle (they like to hide behind nocturnes, mazurkas and various other concertos where they can hide behind an orchestra). From the few that have recorded the whole cycle they are rampant with either missed notes, nervousness leading to involuntary pulls/pushes in tempi, swallowing the melody, etc. (and this includes Richter who I have heard both in the BBC legends series and Richter in memoriam - and in both he sounds very nervous and makes many mistakes… not getting even close to the level of Pollini… and I say this being a big fan of Richter). There is no close second or room for comparison.
Please listen to #2 Opus 25 - this is the epitome of beauty and truth. No nonsense, no gimmicks… just the pure sound of the piano. Pollini’s understanding of music is beyond what mere mortals can discuss.
This is Pollini’s gift to humanity - love it. Cherish it. Embrace it.
This is one of the best piano CDs ever. Period.
You will cry out to the heavens when you hear this CD