Sokolov - top of the bill!

[gjkoster]

Last night I went to a Grigory Sokolov concert. I bought the tickets months in advance and I it was worth the wait without any doubt. Since I first saw and heard him play on the DVD featuring his concert in Paris (2003) I'm a great fan. He played Schuberts 951 and the 24 preludes (Chopin) last night and I'm still thrilled by the performance. What a pianist! He is able to grap you from the first moment with his playing and can make the piano sing as a bird and roar like a lion. The crowd (me included!) just went on and on aplauding his great performance and he gave 6 encores in the same great style, all Chopin works. Magnificant! Next time he plays, I will be there, absolutely.

Just wanted to share the experience!

Cheers,
GJ

[ramseytheii]

Sokolov has a big musical personality, and I also love his playing.  In the last concert of his that I saw, in Munich, he played all Baroque music as encores - Couperin, Rameau and Scarlatti.

I also heard him play Schubert D959, and actually it was the one thing I didn't like.  It was quite sentimental and not orchestral at all, so it sounded a bit fussy and puny.  More like a very, very long Chopin nocturne than a Schubert sonata.  Well, diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks!

Walter Ramsey

[Kassaa]

Sokolov has a big musical personality, and I also love his playing.  In the last concert of his that I saw, in Munich, he played all Baroque music as encores - Couperin, Rameau and Scarlatti.

I also heard him play Schubert D959, and actually it was the one thing I didn't like.  It was quite sentimental and not orchestral at all, so it sounded a bit fussy and puny.  More like a very, very long Chopin nocturne than a Schubert sonata.  Well, diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks!

Walter Ramsey

His C minor wasn't/isn't like that at all. It made me love Schubert .

[stringoverstrung]

FYI there is a yahoo group on sokolov so you are always the first to know when he is around:

https://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/gsokolov/

[dutch_pianist]

I have a question about an encore that Sokolov did. I heard him play last week a Schubert sonata and the preludes of Chopin, and as encores he did a mazurka, the fantaisie-impromptu (at a breathtaking rate) and a piece that I don't know. It was a waltz, very songlike, a bit like a mazurka even, but I don't think it was Chopin. I realize of course that this description is very vague, but can anyone help me? maybe someone went to a different recital with the same program?

[Kassaa]

I have a question about an encore that Sokolov did. I heard him play last week a Schubert sonata and the preludes of Chopin, and as encores he did a mazurka, the fantaisie-impromptu (at a breathtaking rate) and a piece that I don't know. It was a waltz, very songlike, a bit like a mazurka even, but I don't think it was Chopin. I realize of course that this description is very vague, but can anyone help me? maybe someone went to a different recital with the same program?

Was it Chopin's second Impromptu maybe? He played that last year as an encore in the Concertgebouw.

[dutch_pianist]

Was it Chopin's second Impromptu maybe? He played that last year as an encore in the Concertgebouw.

no i'm afraid it was something else...

[stringoverstrung]

no i'm afraid it was something else...

What date / venue was it?