A marquee name among classical pianists since the 1970s,
Maurizio Pollini has been noted for performances of some of the most monumental of contemporary music, and for pairing such works with standard repertory of the 19th century.
Pollini's decades-long relationship as a recording artist with the Deutsche Grammophon label has been among the most stable in years.
Pollini was born January 5, 1942, in Milan. His father was modernist architect and educator Gino Pollini. In 1957, in Milan, he performed a concert of
Chopin Etudes that drew wide attention.
Pollini attended the Milan Conservatory and won several major prizes as he completed his formal education, including the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1960.
Arthur Rubinstein, one of the judges, is said to have remarked that the boy "can play the piano better than any of us."
Pollini's concert and recording careers were launched, and his made his recording debut on the EMI label with the
Philharmonia Orchestra, playing
Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11. In the early and mid-'60s, however,
Pollini hesitated, withdrawing from the scene for further study with
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.
Michelangeli's precise and graceful style exerted a formative influence on
Pollini, who returned to the scene amidst the student unrest in the late '60s and together with conductor
Claudio Abbado, performed concerts for students and workers. He made a major reappearance with his Carnegie Hall debut in New York in 1968, and for the next 50 years he would be an almost uninterrupted presence in the world's top concert halls. He has played contemporary works, including some, such as
Luigi Nono's ... sofferte onde serene ... that were composed for him, and he has often paired the likes of
Nono,
Pierre Boulez (whose profoundly difficult Piano Sonata No. 2 is one of his specialties), and
Karlheinz Stockhausen with
Beethoven,
Schubert, and
Schumann, as if to emphasize the continuity of the classical tradition. In 1987 he rejoined
Abbado, with the
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, in New York for performances of all five of
Beethoven's piano concertos. Later in his career he conducted piano concertos from the keyboard, and has sometimes led performances of opera. Beginning in 2000 he has presented concert series under the name "Pollini Project" (or Progetto Pollini) that have paired 19th century and contemporary works.
Pollini made his first recording for the Deutsche Grammophon label
in 1971, featuring works by
Stravinsky and
Prokofiev. In 2019 he released a recording on Deutsche Grammophon of works by
Chopin, who has always remained at the center of his repertory. Although sometimes sidelined by illness, he has remained active in the concert hall and recording studio well into old age. Among his many awards is a 2007 Grammy for Best Solo Instrumental Performance, again for a Deutsche Grammophon
recording of Chopin.