Maurizio Pollini (piano)
Wednesday 27 October 2004
Concert
Hall, Kennedy Center, Washington
Presented by the Washington
Performing Arts
Society
Beethoven:
Sonata No.
24 in F-sharp major, Op. 78
Sonata No. 23 in F
minor, Op. 57
("Appassionata")
Chopin:
Nocturnes in B
major and A-flat major, Op. 32, Nos. 1 and
2
Ballade No. 3 in A-flat major, Op.
47
Sonata No. 2
in B-flat minor, Op. 35 ("Funeral March")
Listening to Maurizio Pollini play Beethoven's "Appassionata" in this
recital brought to mind what Aristotle, in defining the effect of tragic drama
upon the spectator, calls the purgation of the emotions of pity and terror. A
few pianists can match the power and violence of Pollini's interpretation; some
may be able to evoke its pathos and sentiment as sensitively. But no other
pianist active today so clearly articulates both this sonata's stern logic and
the grandeur of its conception.
In the opening measures, Pollini introduced the composer's trills, the incisive four-note motto which pervades the first movement, the arpeggios and the heavy chords in a manner that stunned the listener and shook the keyboard from one end to the other. Even more importantly, he presented these apparent fragments as ideas that unified the movement; the manic fluctuations in mood never threatened the thread of the musical narrative. And Pollini endowed Beethoven's pauses with piercing eloquence that ratcheted up the tension.
Pollini was equally successful in the slow movement, making it sound like a prayer that fails to rise to its intended purpose — thus setting the stage for the pandemonium of the finale. The pianist's masterstroke in that movement was his refusal to compromise the music with convenient tempos. The "Allegro ma non troppo" indication ("fast, but not too fast") means only that something must be left in reserve for the "Presto" of the coda. While Pollini never failed to articulate the music's darkly powerful argument, some might have thought that, with his scorching tempo (the running figures sweeping up and down the keyboard were like molten lava), he was ignoring that cautionary "ma non troppo." It did not seem possible to play any faster, but Pollini could and did. With the arrival — amid the thunder of Beethoven's sudden sfforzati — of the Presto, the pianist effortlessly accelerated into starburst, making the whirlwind coda's abrupt plunge into oblivion all the more dazzling and chilling.
The recital, which was presented by the Washington Performing Arts Society, opened with Beethoven's Sonata No. 24, which is about one-third the length of the "Appassionata" and as gracious and as intimate as its predecessor is eruptive and public. Pollini played it exquisitely.
While the first half of the program concluded with Beethoven's most tragic
sonata, the all-Chopin second half ended with the equally tragic, if otherwise
very different, "Funeral March" Sonata. While Pollini has always observed this
work's first-movement repeat, he now takes it back all the way to the opening
"Grave." That D-flat/E-natural plunge at the beginning permeates the
entire work, and by giving listeners two opportunities to hear it, Pollini
allowed the Sonata to make a stronger-than-usual case for its internal coherence
and expressive unity.
He gave the first movement's conclusion the sense of an ending that it lacks in most performances, which present the second movement nearly as if it were a continuation of the first. His pacing of the third movement "marche funèbre" was determined and intense; his sotto voce and legato playing endowed the perpetual motion finale with a powerful sense of inexorability and finality.
The rest of the second half included tasteful performances of the two Op. 32
Nocturnes and an elegant interpretation of the A-flat Ballade. The encores
— all of them by Chopin — included a riveting "Raindrop"
Prelude, a passionate G minor Ballade, an exquisitely turned Berceuse and a
bravura rendition of the C-sharp minor Etude from Opus 10.
