Maurizio Pollini, pianist who reveled in demanding music, dies at 82

Maurizio Pollini, a celebrated Italian pianist whose playing combined intellectual rigor with technical mastery, died March 23 at age 82.

The death was announced by Milan’s La Scala opera house, where Mr. Pollini performed frequently. No further details were immediately made public. He lived in Milan.

During a flourishing international career spanning more than six decades, Mr. Pollini was steadily ranked among those rare musicians to whom other musicians paid close attention. Pianists regularly brought along printed scores of music by Beethoven, Schumann and Chopin to Mr. Pollini’s concerts and then listened to what he had found in works they had hitherto thought familiar.