My memory’s dim and I can’t say one-hundred-percent that this concerns Pollini; but it’s so Pollini it must have been. A friend of mine, a composer, went to see Pollini with his latest score. The Master (that’s Pollini) took the score, put it on the piano, and played it through at first sight with such sensitivity that my friend (the composer) had tears in his eyes: it was as if Pollini had brought out every nuance in the score.
Pollini finished, stood up, and handed back the score, saying, “I’m sorry, but I have no idea what you’re trying to say.”
WOID XXIII-45
March 24, 2024