Maurizio Pollini’s recorded return to these two Sonatas (June 2021 & April 2022, Munich) finds him in typically honest, truth-telling, form. Nothing is done for effect, and his lyrical stressing of 101 is very affecting, given with utmost clarity. There’s an unvarnished approach to the fast movements – notably the opener of 106, with even greater momentum found in the scampering Scherzo, if a lack of wit. Occasionally, Pollini seems a little awkward, his fingers not as quicksilver as they once were – yet one admires his unwillingness to compromise, intellect intact – and slow movements dig deep, especially that of 101, slightly less so in 106, a question of tempo, a little too flowing and also restless (yielding to Martin Roscoe, http://www.colinscolumn.com/martin-roscoe-records-beethovens-hammerklavier-for-deux-elles/, who adds a few minutes, to nineteen, for greater profundity), yet 106’s crazy fugal Finale finds Pollini thrillingly combustible and tireless: he goes for it and wins. DG 486 3014.
Maurizio Pollini records Beethoven Piano Sonatas – Opuses 101 & 106 (Hammerklavier) – for Deutsche Grammophon.
