Maurizio Pollini - Bach (1985)

Tout est dit des le premier prélude d'une fluidité parfaite. Un très grand artiste qui peut tout jouer avec clarté, précision et une sensibilité exquise.

GRAZIE, Maestro. Una vita al servizio dell'Arte!

Sempre GRANDE in tutto quel ha SUONATO e che ha fatto. È un grande dispiacere che sento pensando che non è più con noi!

A forever monument to his memory, RIP Maestro Pollini!

Good news for all Pollini enthusiasts! I have found in my archives the critical review of this concert that was published in issue number 80 of "Le Monde de la Musique". My memory was right: the title was "Pollini fait exploser Bach" (Pollini made Bach explode) and was signed by Jacques Drillon. For almost 40 years I felt great intrigue and envy to know what happened at that concert. Thanks to Johannes VabB that dreans has come true. The content of this highly interesting review is as follows: "On aurait pu croire que Bach n'était pas la tasse de thé de Maurizio Pollini. On aurait pu douter que son répertoire, qui va jusqu'à Boulez, pût remonter aussi loin dans l'histoire. Lorsque furent annoncés ses deux concerts aux Champs-Elysées (Piano ****), au cours desquels il devait jouer le premier livre du "Clavier bien tempéré" de Bach, la curiosité le disputait au scepticisme. El pourtant... Il fallut au moins cinq préludes el fugues pour s'habituer. Pour comprendre que, malgré tout, il s'agissait bien de Bach; pour admettre cette bizarrerie. Et encore! Plusieurs fois, assez souvent même, Pollini jouait autre chose que Bach. C'était du Beethoven, du Schumann, du Brahms. La hauteur et la longueur des notes ne font pas la musique. On ne peut nier qu'á Bach soient associés un certain esprit, une certaine sonorité. Certains accents, comme on dit "les accents de la passion" (...) Avec Pollini, le rivage où l'on aborde n'est pas celui de Bach. Il parle Bach avec un accent si Beethovénien que, parfois, l'accent l'emporte sur le sens. (...). Par exemple, les préludes. Ils sont, le plus souvent, et comme dans Chopin ou Rachmaninov, bâtis sur une cellule fixe qui se répète d'un bout à l'autre de la pièce. Pollini considère cette cellule non d'un point de vue de stricte musique, mais d'un point de vue dramatique. Et chaque prélude, il le tire entièrement d'un côté, il en fait un petit drame: il peint ici un paysage brumeux; là, il montre la terrible lutte de je ne sais quels géants mythiques. Là encore, c'est un orage, avec ses éclairs, ses fulgurances, ses accalmies. Là encore, c'est une grande méditation, d'où le corps est absent (et le sujet, vague). Les fugues se prêtent moins à ce jeu. Moins souvent. Il n'est pas rare d'en rencontrer qui soient absolument dénuées de tout contenu dramatique. Le contrepoint pur. Pollini construit de grandes arches, des cathédrales admirables de dénuement et de hauteur, de celles qu'on ne peut construire que dans les dernières pièces de Liszt ou les dernières sonates de Beethoven. (...) Le toucher est incroyable de beauté, le phrasé large et puissant. Surtout, ce qui frappe, cèst la conscience contrapuntique. Avec cette pédale, ce goût du fondu, on n'aurait rien d^entendre.El l'on entend tout. Pourquoi? Parce que, suggérait un auditeur, il entend tout, lui. Sans doute. Mais alors, comment expliquer qu'il ait pu aiguiser, au fil du concert, sa conscience, et non laisser sa fatigue l'entamer? Comment se fait-il qu'au bout de vingt-deux préludes et fugues, il ait réussi un si prodigieux "si bémol mineur"? Comment a-t-il pu se garder de toute défaillance? Mystère. Le plus mystérieux: comment sait-il allier le dépouillé à l'expressif?" As a lot of readers don't speak French, here I go with the English translation (enjoy!): "One might have believed that Bach was not Maurizio Pollini's cup of tea. One might have doubted that his repertoire, which goes all the way back to Boulez, could go back so far in history. When his two concerts at the Champs-Elysées (Piano ****), during which he was to play the first book of Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier", curiosity competed with skepticism. Yet... It took at least five preludes and fugues to get used to it. To understand that, despite everything, it was indeed Bach; to admit this oddity. And again! Several times, quite often in fact, Pollini played something other than Bach. It was Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms. The pitch and length of notes do not make music. It cannot be denied that Bach is associated with a certain spirit, a certain sound. Certain accents, as they say “the accents of passion” (...) With Pollini, the shore we approach is not that of Bach. He speaks Bach with such a Beethovenian accent that sometimes the accent trumps the meaning. (...). For example, the preludes. They are, most often, and as in Chopin or Rachmaninov, built on a fixed cell which is repeated from one end of the piece to the other. Pollini considers this cell not from a strictly musical point of view, but from a dramatic point of view. And each prelude, he pulls it entirely from one side, he makes a little drama out of it: here he paints a foggy landscape; there, he shows the terrible struggle of I don't know what mythical giants. Here again, it is a storm, with its flashes, its calms. Here again, it is a great meditation, from which the body is absent (and the subject, vague). Fugues lend themselves less to this game. Less often. It is not uncommon to come across some that are absolutely devoid of any dramatic content. Pure counterpoint. Pollini builds great arches, admirable cathedrals of deprivation and height, of those that can only be built in the last pieces of Liszt or the last sonatas of Beethoven. (...) The touch is incredibly beautiful, the phrasing broad and powerful. Above all, what is striking is the contrapuntal consciousness. With this pedal, this taste of fading, we wouldn't hear anything. And we hear everything. For what? Because, as a listener suggested, he hears everything. Without a doubt. But then, how can we explain that he was able to sharpen his conscience over the course of the concert, and not let his fatigue wear him down? How is it that after twenty-two preludes and fugues, he achieved such a prodigious “B flat minor”? How was he able to avoid any failure? Mystery. The most mysterious: how does he know how to combine the simple with the expressive?

Che genio! Che esecuzione ed interpretazione straordinaria! Importantissimo documento sonoro.

The critical review when he played this programme in Paris in 1985 made by the notorious french classical music magazine "Le Monde la Musique" was this: "Pollini fait exploser Bach". It's amazing that his performance in 1985 completely different to his recording in 2009. His performance in 1985 is simply incredible and not as restrained as the 2009 recording. In 1985 he certainly "made the piano explode". Thanks a lot, Maestro!

Thank you for these invaluable records

ho visto questo concerto a Bologna: fu una esperienza unica, con gli allievi di pianoforte che studiavano lo spartito. Fu un concerto con un silenzio da funzione religiosa, alla fine qualche minuto di silenzio e fragoroso è esploso l'applauso. Un concerto da cui si uscì appagati e quasi ubriachi come quando eseguiva le Diabelli. Intensità , tensione musicale alle stelle grazie di avermi dato la possibilità di rivivere queste emozioni.

…accompanied by cough-concert(s)…Incroyable! Great JSB, great Maestro Pollini. RIP

The bucolic touch, tinged with melancholy of these laments causes an abysmal diving movement in my unconscious so that I end up feeling apathy before the problems of this world, not as an escape but as an exercise in self-knowledge 🕊:face-blue-star-eyes::learning:

Io ero al concerto di Torino al Regio di pochi giorni dopo. Dopo lunga attesa mi ha firmato il libro del Clavicembalo ben temperato!!!

I have heard about his legendary bach wtc in 1985. And how lucky it is! finally this is on youtube! In fact, his 1980' bach wtc recording was on youtube(bad recording quality.. maybe someone recorded personally) but it deleted. So by searching 'pollini bach 1980', I always hoped to hear his early bach again. And thank you... To me, this version is much better than his later recording and This playing contains much more pianism of pollini.. something from modernism.

Adesso son convinto definitivamente che col pianoforte Bach non solo non ci perde, ma anzi...

Bellissimo!!

Muchas gracias, descansa en paz en el Cielo😊😊

C'ero al concerto..

Слушать и Возвращаться… Спасибо большое и всего самого доброго! 12.04.2024.

Grazie per la pubblicazione di queste meraviglie! 🙏

Необычайно чувственное и тонкое исполнение, наполненное полифоническими переливами! От этого можно испытать катарсис!