Maurizio Pollini has made some of the most absorbing Beethoven recordings around, such as the Third and Fourth concertos (with Karl Böhm) and the Op. 111 sonata. Others, however, strike me as technically proficient yet musically aloof, like the Diabelli Variations, Waldstein Sonata, and portions of this release. Though Pollini rightly honors the Op. 54 sonata’s “tempo d’un Menuetto” directive, the results are graceless, unyielding, and none too danceable. Notice, for example, how the triplets, marked “sempre forte e staccato”, sound overly harsh and undifferentiated to the point where Beethoven’s szforzandos emerge as slight accents rather than stingers. By contrast, Pollini perfectly realizes the second movement’s quirky, toccata-like fluidity.
The Appassionata is gaunt and swift in the manner of Rudolf Serkin, Friedrich Gulda, and Claude Frank without quite matching their inner drama and harmonic awareness. Again, little details give Pollini away. In the opening measures, for instance, Pollini’s (unwritten) crescendos on the trills diminish the dramatic effect implied by those that Beethoven indicates a few measures later. A more lyrical bent in the first movement and a lighter, crisper touch in the second (à la Glenn Gould’s incomparably witty rendition) would have made Pollini’s Op. 78 memorable rather than dutiful. You might say the same for the E minor sonata, where Richard Goode, Sviatoslav Richter, and Ivan Moravec bring more color and control to the first movement’s widely spaced 16th-notes (measures 55-65, and 108-208).
DG includes a bonus disc containing live versions of these works, recorded around the same time. The performances are similar to their studio counterparts, yet they flow a little freer and benefit from less detailed but warmer sound that tones down the pianist’s annoying vocalizing. By offering live alternatives, both Pollini and DG implicitly invalidate the studio versions that undoubtedly cost a pretty penny in studio and editing time. No wonder the industry’s in trouble!
