Album insights
Maurizio Pollini regards each of Beethoven's sonatas as a unique world, with its distinctive character resonating from the first to the last note. His lifelong musical journey alongside Beethoven began in the 1970s, culminating in an award-winning recording of the last five sonatas. Over the years, he recorded all 32 sonatas by 2014, but his artistic exploration continued. Returning to Beethoven's late sonatas in 2019, Pollini embarked on re-recording the final three, completing this project with the current album. These latest recordings of the late sonatas were captured in the exceptional acoustics of Munich's Herkulessaal between 2021 and 2022. Pollini views both the A major Sonata, Op. 101, and the renowned "Hammerklavier Sonata," Op. 106, as brilliant masterpieces. Beethoven's experimentation with form, harmony, and counterpoint in these sonatas opened new artistic realms, with Op. 101 marking the onset of Beethoven's "late style" and Op. 106 significantly revolutionizing the genre, challenging pianists technically and emotionally. Pollini considers the "Hammerklavier Sonata" as the pinnacle of Beethoven's sonatas.