Maurizio Pollini, one of the great pianists of the 20th century, dies in Italy – – 2024-04-13 17:15:17

The Italian Maurizio Pollini, considered one of the great pianists of the 20th century, has died at the age of 82 after a long illness that had forced him to cancel his last concerts, the La Scala theater, the Milanese temple of Milan, announced yesterday Saturday. the opera to which he was very attached.

Admired for his prodigious virtuosity, the breadth of his repertoire and the originality of his interpretations, with his death “one of the great musicians of our time and a fundamental reference in the artistic life of the theater for more than fifty years” disappears. wrote la Scala on his website.

“Superintendent Dominique Meyer, musical director Riccardo Chailly, the orchestra teachers and the workers of La Scala are at the side of his wife Marilisa, his son Daniele and the entire family,” he added.

Pollini was a performer capable of revolutionizing the perception of authors such as Chopin, Debussy and Beethoven himself and promoting with tireless dedication the listening to the historical avant-garde, especially Schönberg, and current music, as he remembers what was his home during five decades.

Along with his greatness as a pianist, “his testimony on the very role of music, understood as an essential component of culture and civic life and as an instrument of transformation of society, remains fundamental,” he adds.

Pollini stood out in chamber music, but at the center of his long career “are above all recitals: from the historic cycle with Beethoven’s 32 sonatas in 1995 to the long-awaited annual concert in which the fixed stars of his musical universe: also Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Schönberg and Ninth.