Title - 'Pollini & Abbado - The Complete Recordings'
Artist - Maurizio Pollini & Claudio Abbado
For those not in the classical know, Maurizio Pollini s an Italian classical pianist. Pollini was born in Milan to the Italian rationalist architect Gino Pollini, who has been said to have been the first to bring Modernist architecture to Italy in the 1930s.
Pollini studied piano first with Carlo Lonati, until the age of 13, then with Carlo Vidusso, until he was 18. He received a diploma from the Milan Conservatory and won both the International Ettore Pozzoli Piano Competition in Seregno (Italy) in 1959 and the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1960.
Arthur Rubinstein, who led the jury, declared Pollini the winner of the competition, allegedly saying: "that boy can play the piano better than any of us".
Claudio Abbado was an Italian conductor. One of the most celebrated and respected conductors of the 20th century, particularly in the music of Gustav Mahler, he served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera, and principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra. He sadly passed away on the 20th January, 2014.
Maurizio Pollini and Claudio Abbado, as you now know are both from Milan, began their collaboration in the 1960s. Their lasting musical dialogue is documented in this 8CD collection, featuring their Beethoven and Brahms cycles as well as piano concertos by Schumann, Schoenberg and Bartók.
Featuring new booklet text by Paolo Petazzi in English and Italian, this incredible, simply DIVINE 8 CD box-set comes with CD covers that are all the original covers / art work. The aforementioned booklet has a complete track listing also:
CD 1-3: Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos.1-5 + Choral Fantasy*
Berliner Philharmoniker
*Wiener Philharmoniker
CD 4-5: Brahms Piano Concertos 1&2
Berliner Philharmoniker
CD6: Brahms: Piano Concerto No.2
Wiener Philharmoniker
CD7: Schumann: Piano Concerto Op.54 / Schoenberg: Piano Concerto Op.42
Berliner Philharmoniker
CD8: Bartók: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2; Nono: Como una ola*
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Slavka Taskova, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
www.DeutscheGrammophon.com
www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/artist/pollini/biography
www.deutschegrammophon.com/us/artist/abbado/biography