Maurizio Pollini—Chopin: Preludes, Op. 28/DG The Original Source vinyl reissue

Maurizio Pollini (1942-2024)

The great Pollini’s famous DG recording of Chopin’s Preludes, Op. 28 (recorded in Munich’s Herkulessaal in 1972 and released in 1975), has been remastered (AAA) for LP by the Emil Berliner Studios for DG’s now celebrated Original Source vinyl series and was released a few weeks ago. Optimal printed 3400 copies. I received mine next-day delivery from Amazon.ca (CAD 66)—it was flat and silent.

I’m not sure how Emil Berliner’s Rainer Maillard and Sidney Meyer are choosing the original DG releases (happily, there are enough for a lifetime). Still, they keep coming, remastered for the most part to an extraordinarily high standard. This new Pollini is right up there with the best.

Chopin wrote his famous set of Preludes in 1839. It includes 24 short works in each major and minor key. Chopin places them harmonically in a “circle of fifths,” with each major key followed by its relative minor, e.g., C Major to A Minor, G Major to E Minor, etc.

The works reflect many moods, from rhapsodic (No. 1) to dirge-like (No. 2) to virtuosic (No. 3) to very agitated (No. 22) up to No. 24, passionately.

Do you know the works? If not, you are in for a treat. But I’d guess as you play through them, you’ll say to yourself, “Hey, I know that”. As such, they are justly famous and have been adopted by the world’s leading pianists since their publication. Busoni made the first recording in 1915 (piano rolls). Interestingly, no less a fan of Chopin, Robert Schumann (he wrote the famous quote about Chopin’s music as “cannons buried beneath flowers”) was dismissive, especially about the brevity of the works (no Prelude is longer than 90 bars), but another famous contemporary, Franz Liszt was a big fan.

I’ll bet that newcomers to the work as a whole will recognize No. 4 (image below)—famous, truly solemn and heartfelt, looking deceptively easy on the page. Simple, yet so profound.

You may also recognize the wistful Prelude loved by student pianists everywhere, No. 7 in A Major—16 gem-like bars. And right after, a technical tour-de-force, No. 8 in F#-Minor. Not forgetting the Prelude chosen by Barry Manilow (C Minor, No. 20 verbatim) as the basis for his mega-hit tune (and very beautiful) “Could It Be Magic.”

But for me, any recording worth its salt lives and dies with the performance of Prelude No. 9 in E Major. My three recommendations in addition to Pollini (Yundi Li, Martha Argerich and Claudio Arrau) play these profound 12 bars with an understanding of line and phrasing with special emphasis on Chopin’s deeply felt harmonic changes (see image below). And look at those pedal markings. Chopin was so precise. If I was giving a nod to my favourite version of this Prelude, Yundi Li would win it. But Pollini, Arrau and Argerich are magnificent here, too. The way all four build the line and revel in Chopin’s beautiful shifting harmony is spectacular.

As for the recording, more in a minute, but streaming the original Pollini DG (and Argerich and Yundi Li both on DG) was a lovely musical experience. This is typical of DG’s excellent solo work for these eras. And Arrau’s 1951 Columbia mono gives the mono immediacy I like so much. Don’t let the mono put you off.

As the winner of the VI International Chopin Piano Competition, Pollini is very famous for his approach to Chopin’s music and his prodigious technique and beautiful sound. This single recording, especially in its new guise, will give you a wide-angle shot of how brilliant he is in his beloved Chopin.

Technically, Pollini is beyond reproach. His famous clarity and tasteful pedalling are on show throughout. Listen to his left-hand technique in the opening of No. 3 (G Major). No pedal, just pristine fluency. Brilliant. He’s very faithful to Chopin’s marks of expression; no wayward playing, simply tasteful execution with his gorgeous tone.

Maurizio Pollini gave a recital in Munich’s Herkulessaal in 2020, the location of his 1972 recording sessions. Photo credit: Peter Meisel/DG

One of the regular contributors (“Sky”) to our Wednesday night Everything Classical Music Livestream has both the new LP and the original DG and mentioned there’s a flaw in the original recording that has been fixed in the remastering. I don’t have the original, but the stream on Qobuz is excellent and will give a taste of what’s to come if you want to buy the new LP.

The vinyl remastering is superb—dynamic as hell and it fleshes out the sometimes early DG “wiry’ piano tone. The original is very good in allowing us to hear the inner parts clearly, but now all lines sound so perfectly blended and with a beautiful, rich piano tone.

End of No. 18 in F Minor. Full-on blood and guts playing from Pollini. You’ll still get a great effect, but if you play the recording too loud, the treble can get a little “clangy!’

Playing this LP at concert hall level, you’ll be amazed at the detail and beauty the Emil Berliner team (once again) achieves. Pollini is a master, and this Chopin record is a perfect example of this mastery. Now, if we can convince the Berlin folks to remaster Pollini’s greatest record, his 1972 Stravinsky Petrouchka and Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 7. It still can amaze after all these years. I remember hearing it in 1972 for the first time. I don’t think any music lovers were the same after hearing Pollini play Prokofiev’s “Precipitato” 7/8 finale.

Sadly, Pollini died this year but was still producing recordings and giving live concerts ‘till 2023. The late recordings are best left for completists and are a shadow of his earlier greatness. But this famous Chopin Preludes recording from 1972, now with a new vinyl life, is chief among those that demonstrate his genius. Very highly recommended.

Release on: 10/04/2024

Article no.: 508530