Maurizio Pollini & Daniele Pollini Schubert UHQCD

Numbered, Limited Edition UHQCD!
Playable on any CD player, the Ultimate High Quality CD greatly surpasses all previous CDs before it!
In June 2022, Maurizio Pollini, one of the most important Italian pianists alongside Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, went to Munich's Herkulessaal with his Daniele to record a new studio album dedicated to three essential aspects of Schubert's piano music: the sonatas, the cycles with short pieces and the piano music for four hands. It was a project close to the heart for father and son, who share a special love for the Viennese composer, and it was the first time that they had rehearsed and performed a piece for four hands together: the elegiac F minor Fantasy from Schubert's death year 1828. For Maurizio Pollini, it was to be his last recording: he died in March 2024 at the age of 82. And so "Schubert" becomes a legacy and a hopeful look into the future.
"With the recent death of my father, the perspective with which I imagined the record and the entire process of its realization inevitably changed," says Daniele Pollini. What turned out to be a very special occasion became a unique event that is indeed unrepeatable. I am therefore very happy that I had the opportunity to record this album dedicated to Schubert and to share his last recording with my father." Universal Music Japan and Deutsche Grammophon are now releasing this touching and at the same time profound album of two generations of musicians for the first time in a brilliant-sounding UHQCD version.
UHQCD stands for Ultimate High Quality Compact Disc and is a joint development of the Japanese CD replication company Memory-Tech and the Audio Quality CD Company from Hong Kong. UHQCDs, unlike conventional CDs, are not pressed from polycarbonate, but cast from a photopolymer and cured with UV light. To protect the softer photopolymer from scratching, another layer of high-purity polycarbonate is applied. The combination results in a significantly reduced reflection of the laser light inside the CD and an unrivalled precise edge transition between pits and lands of the CD. UHQCDs are 100% compatible with normal CD players. Musically, the result is a sound that is strongly reminiscent of analog master tapes.
While Universal Music Japan's first UHQCD series relied on the DSD data of previous SHM-SACD releases, albums that had not previously been released as SHM-SACD are now being released with increasing popularity. Typically, the master tapes of the Universal Archive are re-converted to DSD for this purpose. UHQCDs are ideal for music lovers who want to get as close as possible to the sound of the recording, but do not have a SACD player.

Features:

• Numbered, Limited Edition
• Made in Japan
• Superior Crystal Sound
• Ultimate High Quality CD
• XRCD-Like Luxury Digipak
• Playable on conventional CD players

Musicians:

• Maurizio Pollini, piano
• Daniele Pollini, piano

Selections:

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Piano Sonata No.18 in G Major, D.894
1. I. Molto Moderato e Cantabile
2. II. Andante
3. III. Allegro Moderato
4. IV. Allegretto
6 Moments Musicaux, D.780
5. No.1 In C Major (Moderato)
6. No.2 In A-Flat Major (Andantino)
7. No.3 In F Minor (Allegro Moderato)
8. No.4 In C-Sharp Minor (Moderato)
9. No.5 In F Minor (Allegro Vivace)
10. No.6 In A-Flat Minor (Allegretto)
Fantasy for Piano 4 Hands in F Minor, D.940
11. I. Allegro molto moderato
12. II. Largo
13. III. Allegro Vivace
14. IV. Tempo I