I have great respect for pianist Maurizio Pollini, age 81. He is a pianist great who has earned loyal support worldwide for his genius, skills & discipline, with not a hint of flamboyance or flash. 
So it saddens me deeply to read in Norman Lebrecht's Slipped Disc blog what happened when Mo. Pollini held a recital at Royal Festival Hall in London last Friday (June 23, 2023). As described, soon after the performance began, Mr. Pollini seemed to lose track of what he was supposed to play, and could not manage to perform Schumann's Fantasie in C from memory. He retreated to the wing and completed the performance awkwardly, sight-reading disorganized music scores and -- in a very brief second half -- with the aid of a page turner. It was a performance that went awry, a profoundly poignant experience for both the audience and I imagine especially for the pianist himself.
Among the many comments to the Slipped Disc post, commenter 'High Note' wrote:
"We all get old – and nature is cruel: No matter how beautiful our youthful selves, we get fat, wrinkle, shrink, bald, arthritic – it’s all so unavoidable. But at least after a certain point, we know enough not to enter a beauty contest – and an artist should know not to reclaim the stage while carrying the same name but not the same ability which got him there in the first place."
Old age is unkind, and it touches everyone differently. Pianists, even great ones, are not spared. Although some pianists manage to perform to a very old age (see the comments to the Slipped Disc post), they are exceptions. Among pianists I have become aware of, the ones that have persevered include the recently departed Menahem Pressler, who performed until he was almost a centenarian. Vladimir Ashkenazy stopped performing on the piano long before his announced retirement in 2019, at age 82. Another pianist great, Murray Perahia, age 76, has not performed in recent years, reportedly due to hand injuries. (In 2019, Nobu substituted for Mr. Perahia at a May 10 Carnegie Hall recital- I was there. )
Image: Nobu at his 2019 Carnegie Hall recital - he was a big hit.
My thought, as usual, turns to Nobu, who, at age 35, still at times looks like a high school student. It is hard to imagine him growing old and grey. But time waits for no one. A day will come when even he will be visited upon by old age. Nobu, however, is made of sturdy stuff -- I have had the fortune of giving him a hug, and can testify that his shoulder muscles are iron-tough; and he is a swimmer -- so I hope he will not become a frail old gent. Sightless, Nobu would not have the option of relying on music scores and page turners if and when his memory fails him; nor would he have the option to veer into conducting like some other pianist greats (such as V. Ashkenazy & Daniel Barenboim) when their hands no longer work so well. But Nobu plays jazz, and is a composer, a career that I hope he can pursue in earnest when his pianist days are over.
Old age is unkind. I wish Mr. Pollini the best. I hope that when the time inevitably comes, Nobu will step off the stage graciously, "and rest on his many laurels." Thankfully, at my age, I shouldn't be around by then :-)
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