captivated II [and why]

Posted by: stephenjohn on 02 April 2009

There was an earlier thread in which we were invited to write which music was currently captivating us.

I haven’t wished to hear any thing other than Mozart’s 20th piano concerto for nearly three weeks now. Mitsuko Uchida plays my version.

It is wonderful.

We have been encouraged to write why in other threads – so here [hear?] goes, my first attempt at a head above the parapet.

There is a very sombre, even dark orchestral opening and then the piano comes in with two melodies simultaneously played that convey lightness, hope and beauty at the same time. The music continues as a dialogue thereafter. A whole wonderful, complex, beautiful story unfolds that to my ears sounds like a battle at times between life forces. I’ve run out of words. It lasts around half an hour and takes me out of this world into another one. Ideal for clearing a cluttered mind. I’d recommend it to everyone who doesn’t already know it.

ATB [enthusiastically]

SJ
Posted on: 02 April 2009 by mikeeschman
This will come as quite a shock to those who read my posts, but i am obsessed with Pollini playing the last three piano sonatas of beethoven.

i think his touch is so refined that he is able to completely seperate one voice from another, giving each voice its own uniform, yet distinct, style of articulation, in a manner i have never heard from a pianist before.

the end result is the broadest, widest imaginable pallet of colors - more like what you would hear from an orchestra than a piano.

i think this developed in pollini because he studied with auturo benedetti michelangeli, who was obsessed with drawing instrumental colors from the keyboard.

my wife tells me that the piano Pollini plays, and its tuning and voicing, play a large role in his abilities as a colorist. she claims that some pianos are designed with a more powerful bass, which would make pollini's voicing in these beethoven sonatas impossible.
she speculates he's playing a steinway.

when i listen to these last three sonatas, i feel as if beethoven is in the room with me, and in an exceedingly hopeful and friendly mood.

i can't get enough :-)