Mauriaio Pollini’s death was a significant blow to the piano world. His concerts in London over the years were always highlights, a great pianist of unfathomable energy who always illuminated everything he touched. A musician of incredible intellect and, until the final few concerts perhaps, incredible accuracy.
In 1960, Pollini won the Chopin Piano Competition and shortly after was contracted to record for EMI – recordings from the period still have classic status, especially with his Chopin First Concerto with Kletzki. The early recording of the Etudes were withdrawn (and Pollini did not explain why) – which has always left his DG account as his last recorded word on these pieces, performances of superhuman pianism (Op. 10/4!).
In 2011 the originals were approved by Pollini for release, and issued on Testament, a remarkable reissue label whose catalogue holds a string of gems (not least Wagnerian ones!).
Now, Warner Classics has released an SACD edition (so, the first in high resolution from those original tapes); the release date was just yesterday, February 29, 2025. It is astonishing to think that Pollini was 18 at the time of this release: the performance of the E-Major, Op. 10/3 is that of profound grace and depth:
Arguably a touch more so than the DG studio account:
Both Op. 10/1 and Op. 10/4 require high presidigtaion. No-one will surely eve match the DG Op. 10/4 for sheer technique; in fact, it is that very technique that generates much of the excitement:
No doubting the technique in the earlier HMV takes, held in warmer sound, either, but nothing can supersede this:
The two versions of Op. 10/1 operate similarly. And I find Op. 10/5 more approachable in the London sessions (the HMV recording was from Abbey Road Studios);
How profound is the E flat-Minor in London, the textures bare and yet perfectly judged. The quiet shading is remarkable, and again there is more overt emotion than the later DG; harmonic shifts are so carefully managed and judged in the London performance.
This is more shading of the melodic line in the “chattering” Op. 10/7 :
Pollini’s rubato in these earlier recordings is 100% natural, as Op. 10/9 illustrates, a performance I prefer to the DG:
No. 10 is better shaped in the HMV session, too. On DG, in the bright light of that crystal recording, one admires Pollini’s sovereign playing, of course, but the HMV strikes me as closer to the core of Chopin:
If the DG “Revolutionary” is more of a cumulation, almost apocalyptic in approach, the London Op. 10/12 retains incendiary momentum:
The fist Etude of the Op. 25 set was one of Pollini’s favour encores, and he always played it magically. In the early recording, he almost coaxes it into existence; the more objectivist DG all carries huge communicative power though, the line a string of so many pearls:
One feels in the London sessions that Op. 25/2 is so much the logical continuation of Op. 25/1; and the third study of the set is the closest that comes to a trait not really associated with tis pianist from any stage of his career: wit.
Again, Pollini links this to the next Etude in these earlier recordings (Op. 25/5), and again the earlier is more nuanced. He is less relentless in the study in thirds (the G sharp-Minor), but it the profound C sharp-Minor that finds him at his finest. This, in the London sessions, becomes an “Etude-Ballade”:
Th Etude Op. 25/8 (D flat-Major) is another example of finer shaping of phrases (with a lot of activity underneath!) in London than on DG:
The “Octave” Study is pretty equally spread, wih climaxes (they act more like waves here) more significant in the DG. There is maximal contrast in this Etudes: suddenly, there s a restrained song, in London so beautifully caressed, a little more objective on DG;
How to quantify the final two Etudes? For the penultimate, I find I impossible to choose; but Pollini is more nuanced in the earlier account, for sure, but more overtly exciting in the DG:
It is a measure of the success of the later DG account of Chopin’s Etudes that Pollini’s major competitor for the HMV sessions is himself, but later.
I am not sure why there are two sets of booklet notes strewn over three languages here: Melissa Khong contributes he simply-titled “Chopin Etudes Op. 10 & Op. 25 Maurizio Pollini” while Christoph Vratz provides an alternative in both French and German.
The disc is available via Amazon here; the Testament is here.
