Without an understanding of Schoenberg's concentrated language and intensity of expression, performances of his piano music can suffer either from cerebral dryness or confused murkiness. On this CD,
Maurizio Pollini strikes a fine balance between analytical and emotionally demonstrative approaches to produce a lucid yet passionate result.
Pollini's interpretations change appopriately from piece to piece, revealing that these keyboard works are as varied as the stages of Schoenberg's career, from the Post-Romanticism of his early years to the liberating innovations of his maturity. The enigmatic, ambivalently chromatic Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11, and the more adventurous, atonal Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19, signify the development of a new language, perhaps similar in mood to late Scriabin, but free of old mannerisms. The Five Piano Pieces, Op. 23, benefiting from
Pollini's clarity and concentration, sound spare and aphoristic. In the 12-tone Suite, Op. 25,
Pollini brings out the wit and fluid elegance that run throughout the work, which approaches Neo-Classicism in both form and wry detachment. The Two Piano Pieces, Op. 33a and 33b, are free-standing and integral expressions, despite their brevity. Deutsche Grammophon's high-quality sound is clean, with only minimal tape hiss.