{"id":5549,"date":"2012-11-30T22:50:44","date_gmt":"2012-11-30T22:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pianostreet.com\/blog\/?p=5549"},"modified":"2023-12-13T11:24:03","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T11:24:03","slug":"grigori-sokolov-live-at-theatre-des-champs-elysees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pianostreet.com\/blog\/articles\/grigori-sokolov-live-at-theatre-des-champs-elysees-5549\/","title":{"rendered":"Grigori Sokolov Live at Th\u00e9\u00e2tre des Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cA dim light picks out the outlines of the hall. Suddenly a massive shadow appears and moves swiftly over to the keyboard, the only brightly lit surface to stand out from the large coffin-like box in the center of the stage. There follows the vaguest of unsmiling acknowledgments in the general direction of the audience, and then the music begins. Throughout the next two hours this music will keep its listeners enthralled with its extraordinary intensity as the audience senses the formidable physical, pianistic, musical and emotional presence of this most secretive of present-day pianists, Grigory Sokolov.\u201d<\/em> – Bruno Monsaingeon<\/p>\n

In 2002, Bruno Monsaingeon, internationally renowned for his films of Glenn Gould and the intriguing documentary Richter, the Enigma, made a film of a piano recital that Grigory Sokolov gave at the Th\u00e9\u00e2tre des Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es in Paris. Monsaingeon suggests that with Michelangeli, Gould, and Richter no longer alive, Sokolov may be the \u201cgreatest living pianist.\u201d In 1966 at the age of 16 Sokolov won the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. <\/p>\n

Careerwise Sokolov didn\u2019t follow a conventional pattern and Monsaingeon suggests that Sokolov is less than world famous because he has not allowed more than a handful of his recordings — all live performances — to be released. With high integrity Sokolov objects to the studio and thus represents the secretive and eccentric. Monsaingeon says that Sokolov himself believe that the concert represents the focal point of magical life and that everything else is artificial. As a result, he was not only reluctant to be recorded but also to be filmed.<\/p>\n

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Sokolov’s record company continues to record a large number of his about seventy yearly recitals even though their request to release them most of the time comes up against the same negative answer but, according to Monsaingeon, albeit tempered by the phrase ”You can release whatever you want after my death”; he even suggested that his original recording company, Opus 111 (a reference to Beethoven’s last sonata), change its name to ”Opus posthume”, a label which seemed to him to reflect perfectly his own ideas on the subject of record releases.<\/p>\n

In spite of this, Monsaingeon was able to overcome Sokolov\u00b4s privacy and reservations and the filming in Paris on the 4th of November 2002 was accepted. Conditions were that it was made live, with no retakes and with nothing to detract from his total concentration, which was directed exclusively at the music. This meant avoiding the perceptible presence of microphones, lights and cameras.<\/p>\n

The complete film can be watched at www.medici.tv<\/a>. (Subscription required.)<\/p>\n

Two samples:<\/p>\n