This album, made in 2022 when
Maurizio Pollini
was 80, was planned as his last recording. It features his son,
Daniele Pollini
, but only one of the three
Schubert
works, the
Fantasia in F minor for piano 4 hands
, features both Pollinis, although the two have performed and recorded together at various times. This may indicate a desire to showcase the younger
Pollini
, who has had a respectable career but hasn't reached the Olympian heights of his father. In any event, Olympian is the word for
's performance of the
Piano Sonata in G major, D. 894
, and he is excellent in this mode, as always. His performance is notably fast, and he lets the remarkable rhythmic freedom of the first movement take care of itself. This is as it should be:
was not
Beethoven
, and this sonata, even less than the three big later ones, doesn't need a strongly subjective performer presence. In the short
Moments Musicaux, D. 780
,
is similarly neutral, even if one might have wished for a more distinctive profile from him. However, the final four-hands
Fantasy
delivers in terms of keeping the two voices separate (
Daniele
takes the primo part) while maintaining a unified flow. It was absolutely no surprise when this album made classical best-seller lists in the late autumn of 2024, and it certainly serves as a reminder of the greatness of
. ~ James Manheim