Pianist Maurizio Pollini has been accused of being stiff and unemotional on stage. One writer said, "There are morticians who go about their duties more chirpily than Pollini on the concert platform." That may be, but he manages to generate a lot of emotion in his performances. Pollini joins Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic for a lively - and emotional - performance of Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto.
Episode Playlist
Hour 1
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Overture to the Impresario
The Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Yehudi Menuhin, conductor
Traditional (Arranged by William L. Dawson): Ain't-a That Good News!
Conspirare, Craig Hella Johnson, director
Valerie Coleman: Red Clay and Mississippi Delta
The Imani Winds
Brooks Center for the Performing Arts, Clemson, South Carolina
Johann Sebastian Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D, BWV 1069
Europa Galante, Fabio Biondi, conductor
Palau de la Musica Catalana, Barcelona, Spain
Joaquin Rodrigo: Distant Sarabande and Carol
The Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Jesus Lopez Cobos, conductor
Metropole Hall, Lausanne, Switzerland
Heitor Villa-Lobos: Preludio (Modinha), from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 1, A. 246
The Beauvais Cello Octet
Bulgaria Concert Hall, Sofia, Bulgaria
Hour 2
Frederic Chopin: Nocturne in A-flat, Op. 32, No. 2
Maurizio Pollini, piano
Franz Liszt and Felix Mendelssohn: Variations on the Wedding March from a Midsummer Night's Dream
Arcadi Volodos, piano
Carnegie Hall, New York City
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Fragments in A-flat, Op. Post.
Arcadi Volodos, piano
Carnegie Hall, New York City
Edward Elgar: La Capricieuse
Nai-Yuan Hu, violin, Alain Jacquon, piano
Newport Music Festival, Newport, Rhode Island
Henryk Wieniawski: Capriccio-Valse, Op. 7
Nai-Yuan Hu, violin, Alain Jacquon, piano
Newport Music Festival, Newport, Rhode Island
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat, Op. 19
Maurizio Pollini, piano, the Berlin Philharmonic, Claudio Abbado, conductor
Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany
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