Four Impromptus Archive

Grigory Sokolov, piano – SCHUBERT/ BEETHOVEN – DGG (2 discs) 
DGG

by Audiophile Audition | Feb 11, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

DGG combines two live Sokolov recitals to produce a towering program, intellectual and exciting at once. Sokolov – SCHUBERT/ BEETHOVEN – SCHUBERT: Four Impromptus, D. 899; Drei Klavierstuecke, D. 946; BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major, Op. 106 “Hammerklavier”; RAMEAU: Les Tendres Plaintes; Les Tourbillons; Les Cyclopes; La Follette; Les Sauvages; BRAHMS: Intermezzo in b-flat minor, Op. 117, No. 2 – Grigory Sokolov, piano – DGG 479 5426 (2 CDs) 65:06, 73:20 (1/29/16) [Distr. by Universal] ****: Russian piano virtuoso Grigory Sokolov (b. 1950) provides ample evidence of his musical prowess and acuity in excerpts from two live concert appearances, from Warsaw (12 May 2013) and from the Salzburg Festival (23 August 2013). Given the proximity to Schubert’s birthday of January 31 (1797), the dedicated intensity Sokolov demonstrates in the Four Impromptus of 1827 warrants our audition of the Sokolov’s Warsaw performance. The program annotator for the DGG set, Oswald Beaujean, ascribes various metaphysical implications to Sokolov’s playing, while we might detect romantic indulgence in the long-breathed phrasing and poignant alternations of dynamics. The opening c minor Impromptu, a staid march with tragic and lyrical episodes, receives a broad canvas whose bass sonorities prove as compelling as the […]