Good Evening!
Maurizio Pollini's recital earlier today at Carnegie Hall was quite wonderful. Yes, one of the "elder statesmen" of Pianists did show a bit of his "conservative" side, but I found myself surprised by some particularly nuanced dynamics and colorings, variations of touch. On paper, the recital did not look that "big" to me, but once I was settled into my chair and read the program again, I realized that each half would run about 45 minutes each. And they did. However, at no time did I feel that the program felt long - everything was just right.
True to form, Pollini treated the audience to a number of encores - four to be exact. All Chopin, and he ended with the G-minor Ballade - quite a substantial piece in itself.
*And, lo and behold, even though I did hear a couple of "signal watches" go off around 3:15, I don't think I heard one cellphone go off the entire time.
