Maurizio Pollini Chopin - Nocturnes Mazurkas Berceuse, Sonata, Opp. 55-58 CD

Maurizio Pollini, “the pre-eminent Chopinist of his generation” (Fanfare), continues his revelatory chronological re-exploration of the Polish master’s late works.

The works recorded here were all composed between 1843 and 1844 and published soon afterwards. For Maurizio Pollini, performing works that are chronologically closely related, in the order in which they were published, is a way of embracing the criterion of variety that guided Chopin himself when he was programming his concerts, as well as a means of highlighting the individual character of each work in its context. “Listening to all the Ballades or all the Scherzos in a row doesn’t take into account the fact that they were composed at different times, without being directly linked.” Here then, for example, the wonderful sonorities of the Berceuse also enable us to hear the colours of the works around it in a particularly evocative light. 
 
“An indispensable album for all devotees of the composer or the pianist” (ResMusica)
[review of Pollini’s “Chopin: Late Works”, Opp. 59–64]
 
"Pollini, explicitly recorded but with air around the instrument, opens with an aristocratic account of the Barcarolle (Chopin at his greatest) and continues with the Opus 59 Mazurkas, from which the A-flat is especially wistful (its endearing melody shaped perfectly) whereas the F-sharp minor is fiery, its knotty decorations made lucid." (Classical Source) 
[review of Pollini’s “Chopin: Late Works”, Opp. 59–64]