Thursday, August 1, 2019

Grigory Sokolov, Grosses Festspielhaus

I just got back from the concert and I want to jot down the encores before I forget. As you know if you have been following the blog, I am a big fan of Sokolov who plays, as a rule, six encores after every concert. Why? Because he can. Why not seven? He probably figures six are enough! The concert was just short of three hours long. The first half is over an hour, there is an intermission of perhaps fifteen minutes. The second half is an hour or so. Then the encores begin. Tonight he played:

  1. Schubert, Impromptu
  2. Chopin, Mazurka
  3. Rameau, Les Sauvages
  4. Rachmaninoff?
  5. Ravel?
  6. No idea who the last composer was--not sure if I have ever heard anything by this composer, but it had rather a folkish air
If you were at the concert or have heard this program recently, help us out with the encores!

Yes, I really was in the third row:


The Grosses Festspielhaus with the audience filing in:


The piano-tuner, hard at work at intermission:


I will likely have more to say tomorrow, but it's midnight here and I'm going to bed!

UPDATE: All I really want to add to this is just some ruminations on Sokolov's kind of musicianship. Despite the virtuosity of the Beethoven sonata (the program consisted of the Beethoven Sonata op. 2/3, the eleven Bagatelles, op. 119 in the first half and two sets of late piano pieces by Brahms op. 118 and 119), this was one of the least virtuosic piano recitals I have ever seen. I don't mean that as any kind of criticism! Sokolov is long past having to prove anything to anyone. His interests are more musical than athletic. Except for the sonata, the whole evening was about intimacy, about fine gradations of dynamics and touch, about phrasing and colour and musical pacing--all those things that make for a great performance over a merely competent one. The young virtuosos go out and dazzle us with their footwork, but at the end of the day it is rather shallow in comparison. Sokolov is one of the truly great pianists, in the league of Arthur Rubinstein and Sviatoslav Richter. It is always a great privilege to hear him play.
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15 comments:

  1. Marc in EugeneAugust 1, 2019 at 10:07 PM

    'A Griboyedov waltz' is occasionally the ultimate encore, if that rings a bell; that's the only datum I've found in a quick search of the Internet.

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  2. Bryan TownsendAugust 2, 2019 at 3:19 AM

    Thanks, Marc. It didn't really sound like a waltz, but maybe.

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  3. Marc in EugeneAugust 2, 2019 at 6:55 AM

    I've asked the Sokolov Facebook people if anyone knows. 6,000+ of them. I'll bet more than one of them was there!

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  4. Bryan TownsendAugust 2, 2019 at 7:00 AM

    Thanks, Marc! That should do it. I was sitting beside a doctor who said he had seen Sokolov nine times. Didn't know what the encore was, though.

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  5. Marc in EugeneAugust 2, 2019 at 7:02 AM

    This from someone via Twitter: "Among his preferred encores are Rachmaninov Prelude in G sharp minor and Debussy's Prelude 'Pas sur la neige'".

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  6. Marc in EugeneAugust 2, 2019 at 7:45 AM

    Gosh, that was quick. Thank you, Nadezhda.

    1. Schubert Improptu op 142 no 2
    2. Chopin Mazurka op 30 no 2
    3. Rameau Les Sauvages
    4. Brahms Intermezzo op 117 no 2
    5. Rachmaninoff Prelude op 32 no 12
    6. Schubert Allegretto C minor D 915

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  7. Bryan TownsendAugust 2, 2019 at 8:06 AM

    I would have known if he had played the Debussy--it's my favorite prelude and I have transcribed it for violin and guitar.

    Thanks to Nadezhda! Assuming she is correct, and it sure looks like it, I got pretty close. The last piece really didn't sound like Schubert to me! And I obviously don't know my Rachmaninoff.

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    Replies
    1. AnonymousAugust 2, 2019 at 8:45 AM

      You are right. You don't know your Rachmaninof. You should listen more to this wonderful composer. No hurt feelings hopefully. A lover of classical music! Dita Ludwigs

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  8. Marc in EugeneAugust 2, 2019 at 8:20 AM

    A Russian who studied at the Moscow Conservatory, I expect she does know her Rachmaninoff, ha. The Allegretto D. 915 requires six minutes or so to play (listening to a recording by Andrea Lucchesini) and I can hear how your "folkish air" characterisation fits.

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  9. Marc in EugeneAugust 2, 2019 at 5:04 PM

    A Dutch gentleman via Twitter has seconded the list provided by N.-- many thanks to both Nadezhda (большое спасибо!) and @smendzianka (erg bedankt!).

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  10. Bryan TownsendAugust 3, 2019 at 1:57 AM

    I used to be able to correctly identify just about any encore played at a guitar concert, but I didn't grow up with the piano repertoire so there are lots of corners of it that I barely know. Same with the orchestral repertoire.

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  11. Marc in EugeneAugust 13, 2019 at 7:51 AM

    Here is a YouTube video of a performance by Alexandra Dovgin. She is being touted by Sokolov as the real thing-- this via an interview that he gave to Kommersant published on the 9th, which giving of interviews is something he doesn't much do, I guess. In Russian but there is an English translation (machine translation) at the Sokolov Fb page, which I've downloaded and can email. I don't want to presume to copy-and-paste the entire thing here without checking with both parties. I'll add that the machine translation in many places gives what are obviously very imperfect renderings of the Russian.

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  12. Bryan TownsendAugust 15, 2019 at 7:31 AM

    Thanks, Marc. I heard about this. I will have a listen! To my knowledge, Sokolov never gives interviews!

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  13. Marc in EugeneAugust 15, 2019 at 7:58 AM

    Alexandra Dovgan, tsk.

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  14. Bryan TownsendAugust 15, 2019 at 9:55 AM

    Already I like her better than Yuja Wang.

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