Maurizio Pollini (born January 5, 1942) is an Italian classical pianist. Read Full Bio ↴Maurizio Pollini (born January 5, 1942) is an Italian classical pianist.
He was born in Milan, the son of the Italian rationalist architect Gino Pollini. Maurizio studied piano first with Carlo Lonati, until the age of 13, then with Carlo Vidusso, until he was 18. He received a diploma from the Milan Conservatory and won the International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1960, after which he studied under Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.
Since the mid-1960s, he has given recitals and appeared with major orchestras in Europe, the United States, and the Far East. He made his American debut in 1968 and his first tour of Japan in 1974.
Regarded as one of the greatest pianists of our age, he is especially noted for his performances of Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, Schoenberg, Webern and for championing modern composers such as Pierre Boulez, Luigi Nono and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Important modern works were composed for Pollini, notably Nono’s …sofferte onde serene…, Giacomo Manzoni’s Masse: omaggio a Edgard Varèse and Salvatore Sciarrino's fifth sonata. He displays an absolute technical sovereignty over the piano, but is sometimes criticized for his emotional conservatism. He has conducted both opera and orchestral music, sometimes leading the orchestra from the keyboard in concertos. His first recordings for Deutsche Grammophon in 1971 included Stravinsky’s Three Movements from “Petrushka” and Prokofiev’s Seventh Sonata and is still considered a landmark of twentieth century piano discography. Since then he has been one of Deutsche Grammophon's leading pianists. In 1985, on occasion of Bach's tricentennial, he performed the complete first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier. In 1987 he played the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos in New York with the Vienna Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado and received on this occasion the orchestra’s Honorary Ring. In 1993/1994 he played his first complete Beethoven Piano Sonata cycles in Berlin and Munich and later also in New York, Milan, Paris, London and Vienna. At the Salzburg Festival in 1995 he inaugurated the “Progetto Pollini”, a series of concerts in which old and new works are juxtaposed. An analogous experience will be done at Carnegie Hall in 2000/2001 with “Perspectives: Maurizio Pollini”. In 1996 he received the prestigious Ernst von Siemens Music Prize. In 2001 his recording of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations won the Diapason d’or. In 2002 Deutsche Grammophon released a 13 CD commemorative edition to celebrate the pianist's 60th birthday.
In 2007, Pollini received the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra) for his Deutsche Grammophon recording of Chopin nocturnes.
He was born in Milan, the son of the Italian rationalist architect Gino Pollini. Maurizio studied piano first with Carlo Lonati, until the age of 13, then with Carlo Vidusso, until he was 18. He received a diploma from the Milan Conservatory and won the International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1960, after which he studied under Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.
Since the mid-1960s, he has given recitals and appeared with major orchestras in Europe, the United States, and the Far East. He made his American debut in 1968 and his first tour of Japan in 1974.
Regarded as one of the greatest pianists of our age, he is especially noted for his performances of Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, Schoenberg, Webern and for championing modern composers such as Pierre Boulez, Luigi Nono and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Important modern works were composed for Pollini, notably Nono’s …sofferte onde serene…, Giacomo Manzoni’s Masse: omaggio a Edgard Varèse and Salvatore Sciarrino's fifth sonata. He displays an absolute technical sovereignty over the piano, but is sometimes criticized for his emotional conservatism. He has conducted both opera and orchestral music, sometimes leading the orchestra from the keyboard in concertos. His first recordings for Deutsche Grammophon in 1971 included Stravinsky’s Three Movements from “Petrushka” and Prokofiev’s Seventh Sonata and is still considered a landmark of twentieth century piano discography. Since then he has been one of Deutsche Grammophon's leading pianists. In 1985, on occasion of Bach's tricentennial, he performed the complete first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier. In 1987 he played the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos in New York with the Vienna Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado and received on this occasion the orchestra’s Honorary Ring. In 1993/1994 he played his first complete Beethoven Piano Sonata cycles in Berlin and Munich and later also in New York, Milan, Paris, London and Vienna. At the Salzburg Festival in 1995 he inaugurated the “Progetto Pollini”, a series of concerts in which old and new works are juxtaposed. An analogous experience will be done at Carnegie Hall in 2000/2001 with “Perspectives: Maurizio Pollini”. In 1996 he received the prestigious Ernst von Siemens Music Prize. In 2001 his recording of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations won the Diapason d’or. In 2002 Deutsche Grammophon released a 13 CD commemorative edition to celebrate the pianist's 60th birthday.
In 2007, Pollini received the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra) for his Deutsche Grammophon recording of Chopin nocturnes.
Träumerei
Maurizio Pollini Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Träumerei' by these artists:
Claude Thornhill For the life of me I never thought that it could…
Claude Thornhill & His Orchestra For the life of me I never thought that it could…
Claude Thornhill and His Orchestra For the life of me I never thought that it could…
Franz Schubert / J.S. Bach / Janos Starker / Fritz Kreisler / Franz Joseph For the life of me I never thought that it could…
Gene Bertoncini Maybe I should have saved those left over dreams Funny, but…
James Last And His Orchestra For the life of me I never thought that it could…
Janos Starker For the life of me I never thought that it could…
L S Round round around 堂々巡り 信じれば 欺かれる 人間心理 諦めと踊ってる みんな同じでしょ? ねぇ…
Lisa 奪って スローモーション倒れ込んだ夜 ギユッとした僕の胸から磨り減ったリズム 残像と彷徨いながら手に入れた眼は 透明な…
Lynn Harrell For the life of me I never thought that it could…
Mantovani For the life of me I never thought that it could…
Trauma Ray Silhouettes glow Shapes in shadow Look through the haze and …
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
More Genres
No Artists Found
More Artists
Load All
No Albums Found
More Albums
Load All
No Tracks Found
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Search results not found
Song not found
Ken W
The best interpretation of this song I have ever heard. every note sounds like a crystal. So beautiful. And the strength and the touch are used perfectly. Not too light not too strong. Perfect.
The Musical Gerbil
So many commenters seem blissfully unaware that the tempo Chopin indicated for this piece is actually (despite the "Lento Sostenuto") incredibly fast: 50bpm in half-measure. Pollini is virtually the only pianist who actually plays it approaching the tempo Chopin wrote (even then he's quite a bit slower), so any criticisms of this being too fast, take it up with Fred...
rigel48
Gerbil Jim Are you sure that 50bpm is due to Chopin ? Many tempo markings were added by score publishers and not always by the composers themselves.
The Musical Gerbil
The tempo was definitely marked by Chopin. You can look up the manuscript.
rigel48
Gerbil Jim Several pupils of Chopin said that he played fast. But so fast for a lento sostenuto it leaves perplexed. At 50 the dotted quarter note and for 77 measures of this piece (if we do not take into account the ritenuto of the measure 25 and by playing without rubato) it leads to a duration of 3 min and 5 s! Even Pollini is too slow here (He is rather 35). But yes, Chopin indicated this tempo. However this nocturne is so magical with a much slower tempo.
The Musical Gerbil
It is rather odd. We may never know what Chopin was thinking, whether he made a mistake or something. I don't believe in always adhering to the composer's written score but with this nocturne I do think it ought to be played quicker than how most people tend to interpret it.
Matheus Gouvêa
+Gerbil Jim Fred... Such intimacy
Snail Erato
As always, Pollini uses his tremendous technic to fade himself behind Chopin and give the very essence of this music in the most scupulous way.
Very close to perfection.
Thierry Théodose
Close to perfection as he has just to slow down (a lot) to express something...
Walter Lucchesi
@Thierry Théodose can you upload your version?