In a way, pianist
Grigory Sokolov might be compared with
Glenn Gould: in his performances, there is a very strong personality that is superimposed on the music, but when it came to the relationship between the concert stage and the recording studio,
Sokolov went in a direction opposite to
Gould's; he has prized live performance and records rarely. When he does, he offers live recordings like this one, made at
Haydn's Esterhazy Castle in 2018. Three
Haydn sonatas open the program, and there's undeniably an attraction in hearing them performed at their birthplace.
Sokolov is a prime example of the kind of artist listeners will either love or hate, and a bit of sampling will help them determine the camp into which they fall. The program has an arc not necessarily related to the music involved. He plays the
Haydn sonatas in a precise and detailed but rather flat way, catching subtle features of register and motivic structure. Consider the repeated tonic notes of the finale of the
Piano Sonata in B minor, Hob. 16/32, which pianists tend to give a Beethovenian percussiveness;
Sokolov keeps the temperature low here. The
Schubert Impromptus of Op. 142, at first, seem to flow from the
Haydn but broaden lyrically as they proceed. Everywhere,
Sokolov's control is total, even when he loosens up in the six encores included (one of which is a waltz by the fascinating Russian figure
Alexander Griboyedov). These suggest the depth of
Sokolov's fandom and that listeners should check him out, yea or nay.
Deutsche Grammophon's sound in the big Esterhaza spaces is quite good; there is a certain low level of noise, but no detail is lost. ~ James Manheim
