Grigory Sokolov Recital Review, 07/21/2011

Grigory Sokolov Recital
Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Switzerland
Saanen Church
07/21/2011

PROGRAM
J.S. Bach
Italian Concerto, BWV 971
Overture in the French Style, BWV 831

Schumann 
Humoresque, Op. 20
4 Klavierstücke, Op. 32: Scherzo, Gigue, Romance and Fughette





Trying to review or even describe a Sokolov recital is next to impossible.  When an artist has complete mastery of their instrument, a strong musical personality, and the ability to consistently effect whatever they wish, there are no qualifications.  Audience members can prefer different artists based on personal taste, but in this realm there is no concept of “better” or “worse.”  Sokolov is such a fully-realized artist.

The recital was in a beautiful medium-sized Swiss Protestant Swiss church built in 1604.

Unfortunately, there was a big stone stage piece with a floral arrangement at the left-front of the stage.  I was seated to the left on the 4th row which conceptually should have been ideal for a piano recital.  As it was, I could hear wonderfully and I could see Sokolov, but not his hands.  But how could I really complain?  I was about to hear Sokolov in a wonderful venue.

The Bach Italian Overture is a good recital-starter.  It opens with a bold, declamatory section and it's a fairly familiar piece as well.  Sokolov immediately took everyone right into his “Bach world.”  He made no effort to limit the dynamic palette of the piano as Glenn Gould sometimes did or otherwise sound like a harpsichord, though like Gould every voice was supernaturally delineated (this is not a casual observation.  Sokolov cites Gould as a significant influence).  Each note had its own life and each phrase was exactly considered.   The playing was masculine and robust but never harsh.  He did not avoid the damper pedal entirely as does Andras Schiff, nor did he use it as freely as either Edwin Fischer or Wilhelm Kempff. He did not take many rhythmic liberties but this was as far from “typewriter Bach” as one could possibly imagine.   His trills are otherworldly.   This was Bach on a piano, but without compromise to either the composer or the instrument.

The Overture in the French Style is not often programmed in recitals.  I can't remember that I've ever heard it performed live before.  It is not an Overture at all in any sense of the word.  It is a 30-minute multi-movement piece with dance-themed movements, closer in character to the keyboard Partitias than to either the English or French Suites, but without the rhetorical drama of the former.   On paper it doesn't sound like ideal programming fare for a modern piano recital and I guess that's why nobody plays it.  What Sokolov did with this was absolute magic.  He re-imagined the piano as an organ and changed his entire piano sound between sections as an organist changes stops.  In fact, his ability to mirror a specific organ stop in a central section was absolutely uncanny (I know if I could have describe the sound to the late John Wilson he'd be able to tell me the stop name within two seconds. I  still miss John).  When he was finished with the first part of the recital he was called back to the stage three times.  I heard the phrase “genius” being uttered in three languages.

The Schumann Humoresque was sublime.  The piece comes from the tail end of Schumann's prime piano period, but it's not nearly as well-known or performed as often as his other early suite pieces.  When I found out it was programmed in this recital, I started to study the piece and to listen to as many recordings as I could.  From Sokolov's first phrase, I  was very surprised.  He played the 8th notes under the melody as staccato for the first six measures, while every pianist I remembered hearing played the sort of beautiful legato one is used to hearing under Schumann melodies (the opening of Kinderszenen  is a prime example). When I played through the score myself I did the same. When I came back from the recital I pulled up the PDF of the score on my computer, and guess what?  Schumann wrote dots over the notes – meaning that they are either staccato or at the least non-legato.  Our concept of Schumann from his other contemporaneous pieces makes us want to hear legato so that's what everyone else plays.  Sokolov choice was not an affectation – he was playing the piece as written.

As with the Bach, Humoresque is a suite of individually characterized yet connected episodes – this is undoubtedly why Sokolov constructed the program as he did.  Every section had a distinct character and voice yet the line was never lost.  If I had to describe Sokolov's playing in one word, it would be “concentration.”  Beyond the perfection in the playing and the absolute control of sound, there is an intensity of thought that is both captivating and overwhelming.  This invites obvious comparisons to Sviatoslav Richter, but Sokolov is no mere Richter clone.  As I've written before, the comparison between the two is not necessarily unfavorable to Sokolov.

The Humoresque was following by the four short pieces of Schumann's Op.32.  I didn't know this work at all.  They seemed similar in some ways to the episodes of Schumann's other early piano works, but they also displayed influences of Schubert's later character pieces, particularly Drei Klavierstucke D. 946.   This is not top-tier Schumann, but Sokolov has the ability to imbue lesser works with such character, color, and concentration that you believe in the moment that you are listening to great music.

He played two encores.  The first sounded like Scarlatti and the second I couldn't place – it was in the Baroque style but the harmonies sounded more modern.  It could have been a transcription.  In any case, they were perfection itself.

If you haven't heard Sokolov live and you love the piano, you owe it to yourself to do so.