60 years ago, Maurizio Pollini won the prestigious Chopin Competition in Warsaw - at the age of 17. And then withdrew from the concert business to study physics. Luckily, Pollini returns to the stage and attends masterclasses with Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. Pollini keeps himself busy with Chopin or Beethoven, with the classics, but always sets other music on the program, including in his Zurich recital in the Tonhalle Maag.
Pollini prefers the concert, builds a relationship with the audience, uses the momentum, the emotional power that can lead to great moments of music between artist and audience. He opens the concert with Brahms' Drei Intermezzi op. 117.
Two earlier works by Arnold Schönberg Three Piano Pieces op. 11 and Six Little Piano Pieces op. 19 conclude the first part of the recital.
With the last two piano sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven (Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110; Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111), two important works of piano literature will be performed.
It comes as no surprise that Maurizio Pollini was awarded the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 1996, placing him in the league of the greats in the music world.
