Beethoven: The Last Three Sonatas, Opp. 109-111 Maurizio Pollini

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827): Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109:
• 1 Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109: 1. Vivace, ma non troppo - Adagio espressivo 03:20
• 2 Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109: 2. Prestissimo 02:15
• 3 Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109: 3a. Gesangvoll, mit innigster Empfindung (Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo) 01:50
• 4 Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109: 3b. Variation I: Molto espressivo 01:35
• 5 Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109: 3c. Variation II: Leggiermente 01:27
• 6 Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109: 3d. Variation III: Allegro vivace 00:25
• 7 Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109: 3e. Variation IV: Etwas langsamer als das Thema 02:08
• 8 Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109: 3f. Variation V: Allegro, ma non troppo 00:50
• 9 Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109: 3g. Variation VI: Tempo I del tema 02:55
• Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-Flat Major, Op. 110:
• 10 Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-Flat Major, Op. 110: 1. Moderato cantabile molto espressivo 05:28
• 11 Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-Flat Major, Op. 110: 2. Allegro molto 01:53
• 12 Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-Flat Major, Op. 110: 3a. Adagio ma non troppo 03:11
• 13 Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-Flat Major, Op. 110: 3b. Fuga (Allegro ma non troppo) 06:05
• Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111:
• 14 Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111: 1. Maestoso - Allegro con brio ed appassionato 07:40
• 15 Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111: 2a. Arietta. Adagio molto semplice e cantabile 02:14
• 16 Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111: 2b. Variation I 01:49
• 17 Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111: 2c. Variation II 01:48
• 18 Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111: 2d. Variation III 01:50
• 19 Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111: 2e. Variation IV 04:17
• 20 Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111: 2f. Variation V 03:10
• Total Runtime 56:10

Info for Beethoven: The Last Three Sonatas, Opp. 109-111

On the occasion of Ludwig van Beethoven's 250th Anniversary year one of the greatest pianist of our time, Maurizio Pollini, returns to the miracle and enigma of Beethoven's Last Sonatas: 42 years after the first recording of these masterpieces under studio conditions and with the fantastic acoustics of the Herkulessaal at the Residence in Munich, Maurizio Pollini came back to the very same place for this new and unique project.

Having spent all his life, almost 60 years on stage, with Beethoven, allowing over four decades to record in studio to the highest pianistic, artistic and technical level all of Beethoven's 32 Sonatas, it was his desire to record Beethoven's pianistic last will once more and this time in concert. With the emotional support of his loyal audience and allowing cameras to capture the performance for one of the rare audio-visual releases that exist."After playing these works many, many times over the last forty years, I have always discovered new riches in every detail.

In these masterpieces we see Beethoven moving away from conventional form - in addition to the sonata form, variation and fugue play a significant, even decisive role, and we see completely free episodes that seem like direct translations of the composer's subjective feeling", explains Maurizio Pollini and is convinced: "Music is a higher revelation than any wisdom or philosophy”.

Maurizio Pollini, piano

Maurizio Pollini
was born in 1942 and studied with Carlo Lonati and Carlo Vidusso. After winning First Prize at the 1960 Warsaw Chopin Competition, he went on to establish an international career of the greatest importance, performing in the world’s major concert halls and working with the most distinguished orchestras and conductors including Karl Boehm, Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, and Riccardo Muti. He was awarded the Vienna Philharmonic Ehrenring in 1987 after performing the Beethoven concertos in New York, the Ernst-von-Siemens Music Prize in Munich in 1966, the ‘A Life for Music – Arthur Rubinstein’ Prize in Venice in 1999 and the Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Prize in Milan in 2000.

In 1995 Maurizio Pollini opened the Festival that Tokyo dedicated to Pierre Boulez and, in the same year, he devised and performed in his own concert series at the Salzburg Festival. He gave similar concert series in New York at Carnegie Hall, in Paris for la Cité de la Musique,Tokyo, and in Rome at the Parco della Musica. The programmes included both chamber and orchestral performances and mirrored his wide musical tastes from Gesualdo and Monteverdi to the present. In summer 2004 he was the ‘Artist Etoile’ at the International Festival Lucerne, performing a recital and concerts with orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado and Pierre Boulez.

Maurizio Pollini’s repertoire ranges from Bach to contemporary composers (including première performances of Manzoni, Nono and Sciarrino) and includes the complete Beethoven Sonatas, which he has performed in Berlin, Munich, Milan, New York, London, Vienna and Paris. He has recorded works from the classical, romantic and contemporary repertoire to worldwide critical acclaim. His recordings of the complete works for piano by Schoenberg, and of works by Berg, Webern, Manzoni, Nono, Boulez and Stockhausen, are a testament to his great passion for music of the 20th century. Most recently Maurizio Pollini was responsible for the commissioning of the expansion of the original Grido (String Quartet No.3) by Helmut Lachenmann - a pupil of Nono - into Double (Grido II) for a 48-strong string orchestra.

In 2007 Pollini was awarded a Grammy for best Instrumental Soloist Performance and the Disco d’Oro; he received the 2006 Echo Award in Germany, and the Choc de la Musique, Victoires de la Musique and Diapason d’Or de l’Année in France. Most recently he won the Echo Klassik award in the Best Concerto category for his recording of the Brahms First Piano Concerto with Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden.

In 2010 Pollini performed the Chopin Birthday Recital on the anniversary of the composer’s birth in the International Piano Series in London as part of the Chopin 200 celebrations and last season he played a highly successful series of five recitals in the Piano Series at the Royal Festival Hall - The Pollini Project – charting the development of piano music from Bach to Boulez, for which he won the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist award.

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