Grigory Sokolov – Beethoven Brahms (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

3 Years after his last recording Grigory Sokolov returns with a double album of live recordings from his triumphant 2019/20 tour. Focusing on early (Piano Sonata No. 3) and late Beethoven sonatas (Piano Sonatas Nos. 27 & 32) and Brahms’s autumnal piano pieces opp. 118 & 119, the “musical sorcerer” has fascinated audiences and critics across Europe: “Music making at the piano could hardly be more unaffected yet compelling…The music unfolds directly” ( Süddeutsche Zeitung ). “His pianism is stupendous…but Sokolov’s real magic occurs in the moment, in his fine art of making music live, transcending epochs, levitating, always mindful that our playing must end” ( Tagesspiegel Grigory Sokolov will turn 70 on April 18, 2020!

With the big yellow sticker above his piano, Grigory Sokolov’s last recital resembles Deutsche Grammophon’s album covers from the 1960s during the golden age of the LP and stereophony. It must be said that the Russian pianist today is similar to the iconic pianists that once made up the famous German label’s catalogue: Wilhelm Kempff, Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, or among those still playing today, Maurizio Pollini and Martha Argerich.

Unpredictable, mystifying and often brilliant, Sokolov offers us here the echoes of three recitals given in 2019 in quite similar (and a little reverberant) acoustics, in Zaragoza, Wuppertal, and Rabbi in the province of Trento (Italian Tyrol). Three evenings, three countries and three great evenings where inspiration was in the air. An enemy of any commentary surrounding his programmes, shying away from the media and any opinions on his playing, the Russian pianist reserves his rare concerts for solo recitals in Europe, fearing travel and the stress of jet lag, which has not prevented him from memorizing an incredible amount of airline schedules off by heart.

We should listen to this as one listens to a sage, from Beethoven’s Sonata No. 3 played with sovereign detachment and a clear and flowing conduct imbued with chaste poetry. Sokolov then excels in the precious miniatures, the Eminent Bagatelles Op. 119, in which Beethoven displays an admirable conciseness, concentrating both his energy and the strength of the language from the composer’s later period.

Sokolov previously recorded Brahms in France in 1994 for the now-closed label Opus 111. Here he is at the top of his game with the compositions Klavierstücke Op. 118 and Op. 119, written by an older Brahms. Sokolov brings out the poignant and never-too-sad melancholy, sometimes breaking the impulses while knowing how to abandon himself and give these sublime pieces an improvised feel.

The seven encores (Schubert, Rameau, Brahms, Schubert and Debussy) that close this splendid album are finely chiselled jewels generously offered to the three lucky, transfixed and attentive audiences. – François Hudry

Tracklist:
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827): Piano Sonata No. 3 in C Major, Op. 2 No. 3:

1 Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 3 in C Major, Op. 2 No. 3: I. Allegro con brio
2 Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 3 in C Major, Op. 2 No. 3: II. Adagio
3 Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 3 in C Major, Op. 2 No. 3: III. Scherzo. Allegro
4 Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 3 in C Major, Op. 2 No. 3: IV. Allegro assai

11 Bagatelles, Op. 119:

5 Ludwig van Beethoven: 11 Bagatelles, Op. 119: I. Allegretto
6 Ludwig van Beethoven: 11 Bagatelles, Op. 119: II. Andante con moto
7 Ludwig van Beethoven: 11 Bagatelles, Op. 119: III. à l’Allemande
8 Ludwig van Beethoven: 11 Bagatelles, Op. 119: IV. Andante cantabile
9 Ludwig van Beethoven: 11 Bagatelles, Op. 119: V. Risoluto
10 Ludwig van Beethoven: 11 Bagatelles, Op. 119: VI. Andante – Allegretto leggiermente
11 Ludwig van Beethoven: 11 Bagatelles, Op. 119: VII. Allegro ma non troppo
12 Ludwig van Beethoven: 11 Bagatelles, Op. 119: VIII. Moderato cantabile
13 Ludwig van Beethoven: 11 Bagatelles, Op. 119: IX. Vivace moderato
14 Ludwig van Beethoven: 11 Bagatelles, Op. 119: X. Allegramente
15 Ludwig van Beethoven: 11 Bagatelles, Op. 119: XI. Andante, ma non troppo

Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897): 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118

16 Johannes Brahms: 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118: I. Intermezzo. Allegro non assai, ma molto appassionato
17 Johannes Brahms: 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118: II. Intermezzo. Andante teneramente
18 Johannes Brahms: 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118: III. Ballade. Allegro energico
19 Johannes Brahms: 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118: IV. Intermezzo. Allegretto un poco agitato
20 Johannes Brahms: 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118: V. Romance. Andante – Allegretto grazioso
21 Johannes Brahms: 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118: VI. Intermezzo. Andante, largo e mesto
22 Johannes Brahms: 4 Piano Pieces, Op. 119: I. Intermezzo. Adagio
23 Johannes Brahms: 4 Piano Pieces, Op. 119: II. Intermezzo. Andantino un poco agitato
24 Johannes Brahms: 4 Piano Pieces, Op. 119: III. Intermezzo. Grazioso e giocoso
25 Johannes Brahms: 4 Piano Pieces, Op. 119: IV. Rhapsody. Allegro risoluto

Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828): 4 Impromptus, Op. 142, D. 935:

26 Franz Schubert: 4 Impromptus, Op. 142, D. 935: No. 2 in A Flat Major: Allegretto

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683 – 1764): Suite in G Major, RCT 6:

27 Jean-Philippe Rameau: Suite in G Major, RCT 6: XIV. Les Sauvages

Johannes Brahms: Intermezzi, Op. 117

28 Johannes Brahms: Intermezzi, Op. 117: II. Andante non troppo e con molto espressione

Jean-Philippe Rameau: Suite in E Minor, RCT 2

29 Jean-Philippe Rameau: Suite in E Minor, RCT 2: V. Le Rappel des oiseaux

Sergey Vasil’yevich Rachmaninov (1873 – 1943): 13 Preludes, Op. 32:

30 Sergey Vasil’yevich Rachmaninov: 13 Preludes, Op. 32: No. 12 in G Sharp Minor: Allegro

Franz Schubert:

31 Allegretto in C Minor, D. 915