Maurizio Pollini (5 January 1942 – 23 March 2024)

The 18-year-old Pollini at the the 1960 Chopin Piano Competition. Arthur Rubinstein served as head of the jury who gave Pollini the award that year, and offered his candid assessment: “That boy can play the piano better than any of us.”

I just learned from Ted Gioia that we recently lost Maurizio Pollini, one of the very greatest pianists of our time.

Pollini was the pupil of the great and extraordinarily eccentric Michelangeli and was renowned for the combination of precision with emotional restraint.

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Maurizio Pollini – Beethoven: Sonata No. 30, I. Vivace Ma Non Troppo – 28 March 2022.

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Pollini, aged 14 or 15 circa 1956, plays the Chopin Études op.10 in Milan.