{"id":69,"date":"2017-03-30T11:48:08","date_gmt":"2017-03-30T00:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/?p=69"},"modified":"2018-06-06T11:52:04","modified_gmt":"2018-06-06T01:52:04","slug":"grigory-sokolov-piano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/grigory-sokolov-piano\/","title":{"rendered":"Grigory Sokolov (piano)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Schubert, Beethoven, Rameau<\/h2>\n

DG 479 5426<\/h4>\n

reviewed by Neville Cohn<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Sokolov\"<\/a>During the years when I taught music criticism, I would, early on in the course, ask how many of the students had listened to Beethoven\u2019s Hammerklavier piano sonata, either \u2018live\u2019 or\u00a0 recorded. Not a single student had done so. And during a lifetime of working as a critic, I recall only a very few occasions when I was able to listen to a \u2018live\u2019 account of this extraordinary work.<\/p>\n

Its physical demands are so immense and its ideas so complex and taxing in both physical and emotional terms that only a very select few are game \u2013 and able \u2013 to traverse its dauntingly challenging terrain with confidence.<\/p>\n

Decades ago,\u00a0 at a recital in Cape Town, one of a series devoted to Beethoven\u2019s complete 32 piano sonatas, the Hammerklavier was given a performance which was unforgettable \u2013 but for all the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n

It was only moments into the performance by a pianist who will remain nameless that it became clear \u2013 and depressingly clearer as the work unfolded \u2013 that physical management of the notes was the sole aim of the performer. So involved in the notational management of the piece was this player that very little attention had been given to revealing the demon lurking behind the printed note. It remained almost totally hidden.<\/p>\n

What we were given was a race to the end (which faltered increasingly) in purely physical terms. It was a depressing experience.<\/p>\n

But to listen to Grigory Sokolov is to experience music making at the highest imaginable level. Remember: this is no studio recording allowing for bits and pieces of it to be recorded and recorded again until the soloist feels satisfied by that particular succession of notes. No. This is music that in the most frank and alert way brings the listener face to face with the composer.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an immediacy about the playing that that makes one feel that if Beethoven himself had been present at this performance, he might well have wanted to embrace this remarkable Russian. At its most extravert, this is playing that sets the pulse racing; it is a reading of the most authoritative sort \u2013 and all the more welcome for its rarity. In this deeply probing, thoughtful reading, \u00a0listening to Sokolov becomes a journey of discovery, the playing revealing detail and insights only very infrequently encountered in other, lesser, accounts of the work,<\/p>\n

There would be very few pianists anywhere on the planet able to match this recording which, in the most meaningful sense, is evidence of greatness. Sokolov makes the unplayable accessible. He reveals its myriad details without losing sight of its overall design as only few can, Sokolov taking the listener into the composer\u2019s idiosyncratic world and makes it accessible, meaningful, unforgettable.<\/p>\n

The sonata was recorded \u2018live\u2019 at a recital given by Sokolov in Salzburg.<\/p>\n

Also on disc are Schubert\u2019s Impromptus D899 and Three Piano Pieces D946 as well as encores by Rameau and Brahms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Schubert, Beethoven, Rameau DG 479 5426 reviewed by Neville Cohn   During the years when I taught music criticism, I would, early on in the course, ask how many of the students had listened to Beethoven\u2019s Hammerklavier piano sonata, either<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[55],"tags":[97,83,18,17,11,19,16,15,115,117,116,62],"class_list":["post-69","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recordings-cds","tag-beethoven","tag-brahms","tag-chon","tag-cohn","tag-composer","tag-neville-chon","tag-neville-cohn","tag-perth","tag-rameau","tag-schubert","tag-sokolov","tag-western-australia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Yv33-17","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":63,"url":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/beethoven-piano-sonatas-andor-foldes-piano\/","url_meta":{"origin":69,"position":0},"title":"Beethoven – Piano Sonatas Andor Foldes (piano)","author":"reviewer","date":"May 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Andor Foldes (piano) Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Op 13 (Pathetique); opus 28 (Pastorale); opus 31 No 2 (Tempest); opus 53 (Waldstein); opus 57 (Appassionata);opus 81a (Les Adieux); opus 101; opus 109 DGG Eloquence 482 5854 (2CDs) TPP: 79\u201926\u201d & 74\u201909\u201d reviewed by Neville Cohn \u00a0 Beethoven\u2019s Les Adieux sonata is not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Recordings - CDs"","block_context":{"text":"Recordings - CDs","link":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/category\/recordings-cds\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"BEETHOVEN_Sonatas_Foldes_master","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newozartsreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/4825854_BEETHOVEN_Sonatas_Foldes_master-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":67,"url":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/bartok-piano-works\/","url_meta":{"origin":69,"position":1},"title":"Bartok: Piano Works","author":"reviewer","date":"May 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Andor Foldes (piano) Eloquence DGG 480 7100 (4CDs) TPT: 212\u2019 06\u201d reviewed by Neville Cohn \u00a0 In the 1950s, South Africa was very far from the main highways of the international concert circuit. 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Intimacy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Live Performance"","block_context":{"text":"Live Performance","link":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/category\/live-performance\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newozartsreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Musica-VIVA-57sm-300x119.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":40,"url":"https:\/\/ozartsreviewonline.com\/oz\/w-a-symphony-orchestra-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":69,"position":3},"title":"W.A. Symphony Orchestra","author":"reviewer","date":"March 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Perth Concert Hall review by Neville Cohn \u00a0 I was surprised to read in the printed program that the WASO\u2019s performance at the weekend of Beethoven\u2019s Choral Fantasy was the first time it has been played since 1972. 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