Program
CHOPIN Prelude in C-sharp Minor, Op. 45
CHOPIN Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, Op. 60
CHOPIN Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor
DEBUSSY Préludes, Book II

Expectations soar and the excitement reaches fever pitch every time Maurizio Pollini steps on to the Carnegie Hall stage. It’s not surprising, since he has been a pianist par excellence for decades. Weaving a delicate filigree in a Chopin nocturne, launching ferocious chords in a Beethoven sonata, or reveling in the pure pianistic splendor of Schumann, Pollini is truly “the dean of living pianists” (The Boston Globe).

FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN Prelude in C-sharp Minor, Op. 45; Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, Op. 60; Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor, Op. 35

Chopin revolutionized keyboard writing in dozens of solo piano pieces that imbued the brilliance of the salon style with unprecedented poetic depth. The three works on this afternoon’s program illustrate the expanded expressive range of his late works. The Sonata in B-flat Minor is built around the famous funeral march that serves as its slow movement. From the volatile first movement to the brief, etude-like finale, the music enacts a struggle between discordant and ultimately irreconcilable forces. Even Schumann, one of Chopin’s earliest and most loyal supporters, found the sonata’s enigmatic message hard to fathom.

CLAUDE DEBUSSY Préludes, Book II

Debussy and the revolutionary style of piano writing associated with “Debussyism” were well established in the public mind by the time his two sets of preludes appeared between 1910 and 1913. The 12 preludes of Book II are so texturally luxuriant that Debussy notated most of the music on three staves. The pieces illustrate the full range of his pianism, from the misty, opalescent textures of “Brouillards” and “La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune” to the sultry exoticism of “La puerta del vino” and the kaleidoscopic brilliance of “Feux d’artifice.”