Chopin - 19 Nocturnes [Pollini] It seems a bit strange that Pollini gives us only 19 Nocturnes on these two discs, most other performers give us all 21, but any new Chopin from Pollini we should all be very grateful for, and i hope that he records more.
Maurizio Pollini is Italian, now 69 years old, he's one of the living giants of the keyboard, i wouldn't exactly call him a virtuoso, but he has an incredible command of the keyboard, immense authority, and a phenomenal reputation built up over a lifetime, the front booklet is very nice indeed, a black and white shot of Pollini [by Ralph Mecke], with some gentle light green colours for the lettering, DG are producing some very nice recordings indeed, this was recorded in 2005, quite a warm recording, fairly reverberant, the piano rings out in fortissimos.
Well the verdict?, Pollini hardly puts a foot [or hand / finger] wrong, apart from a loud outburst in Nocturne 11 [Op37/1], a grunt / growl in Nocturne 17 [Op62/1], and a rather hurried middle section in Nocturne 18 [Op62/2], Pollini is very thoughtful, there are revelations aplenty, and he very much allows Chopin's compositions to do the talking, on this listen it was very much the first disc that i enjoyed the most [Nocturnes 1-10], and i played these while out on a walk, while disc two i played at home [hmmm? is there a correlation here?, does walking outside bring a new level of freshness and concentration to the music?], one of the things i notice while playing these Nocturnes again, is the fact that the average Nocturne lasts just under 5 minutes, but these pieces are major statements, so that in my mind they 'sound' like they last for nearly ten minutes, i really forget they're miniatures, maybe they should be called maxiatures!.
The Nocturnes that really impressed me were 3-4, 7-8 & 10, with the Tenth a real highlight, maybe 4 & 7 really touched me deeply too, the Tenth Nocturne is a very simple structure, it's in Sonata form, with a slightly stormy middle section, one of the things Chopin gets so right, is an excellent memorable tune, i love the way that after a very hesitant intro, the piece takes wing in a marvellous way [0:11+], the tune is so pleading and heartbreaking, there's certain notes just perfectly placed to catch your breath / heart, on this listen it was the middle section [1:40-2:50] which had me in raptures, i just love those repeating little trills, and the way Chopin tightens the screws, as the intensity goes up a notch [2:05+], and i'm in a higher plane of rapture, but then it's racked up onto another level [2:16+], and later yet another level [2:40+], very thrilling, and Pollini knows how to take us there, and right after comes the opening again, nicely fused into the middle section without a break, and more importantly without a join!, it sounds such a perfectly smooth transition, and the high intensity rush of the middle section isn't lost in some sort of climb down to mortal heights, wow! Chopin is a genius, but it's the simplicity of his genius that's so outstanding.
Here's Maurizio Pollini playing the Tenth Nocturne [Op32/2] on YouTube.
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