Season 2022/23

We thank our 2022/23 Partners

Who knows, maybe an encore? In any case, let’s enjoy it!

Grigory Sokolov, live at the Berlin Philharmonic. Rameau, Les Cyclopes

Suite No. 7 in D minor and Chacone in G minor by Purcell. Two new jewels cut by the prodigious hands of Grigory Sokolov. Nothing to see, everything to hear.

Grigory Sokolov in Berlin: every note is a jewel

Recital in Berlin on May 4, 2023
By Christiane Peitz – TAGESSPIEGEL
05.05.2023

(…) If we humans treated each other with the same respect that Grigory Sokolov takes care of sounds, we would live in a better world (…).

The sold-out Philharmonic, some desperate listeners in search of last-minute tickets, the dimmed lights, the stocky figure, the quick and somewhat odd entrances and exits, even though people are cheering for him, the forgoing of any applause before the end of each part of the concert, the six obligatory encores (Rameau twice, the Prelude to the Drop of Water and a Chopin Mazurka, Rachmaninoff, a Bach transcription) : again this year, for the audience of the exceptional Russian pianist and anti-star, everything is as usual. It’s good that there are things that don’t change.

It is even more beautiful that the soul of Sokolov’s playing does not change either. His nuanced touch, his striking pedal technique, his amazing color modulations, he does not let up one iota. Before intermission, the 73-year-old assembled 17 keyboard works by Henry Purcell (actually intended for harpsichord or spinet) into a 35-minute piece. Short suites of movements, dances and folk tunes, which Sokolov embellishes with trills and ornaments as if his grand piano were buzzing with hummingbirds.

An airy baroque, with soft punctuations, discreet affects, finely chiseled dynamics: Sokolov prepares for Mozart with Purcell; the Adagio in B minor is preceded by the Sonata in B major, K. 333, which is just as harmonically audacious. In the Sonata, Sokolov expands the sound space to an imaginary orchestral game with a solo instrument, caressing and hesitating, and sometimes thundering, while the Adagio evokes string quartet associations. (…)

GRIGORY SOKOLOV

FR 2 JUN 2023

7:45 pm – 10 pm
Salle de musique / avenue Léopold-Robert 27, La Chaux-de-Fonds

Grigory Sokolov
piano

Ticketing

It arrives similar to the new vintage of a great vineyard, with its character, its color, its fruit reflections. The program that Maestro Grigory Sokolov has chosen to perform is of a rare originality.

Henry Purcell at the piano represents a world first, at least at this level of interpretation and with such a concentration of works!

It took at least the talent of Grigory Sokolov to face such a challenge. However, the English composer dedicates the works on the program to keyboard instruments, which obviously gives the approach all its coherence.

The second part of the evening is dedicated to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Beyond the magnificence of their music, the two composers are distinguished by their universality and their roots in popular and film culture. The great director Stanley Kubrick, to name but one, invited them in two of his films, “A Clockwork Orange” (Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary, by Purcell) and “Barry Lyndon” (The March of the Priests, from Idomeneo by Mozart).

Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Ground in Gamut in G major Z. 645

Suite No. 2 in G minor Z. 661

Prelude
[Almand]
Corant
Saraband

A New Irish Tune [Lilliburlero] in G major Z. 646
A New Scotch Tune in G major Z. 655
[Trumpet Tune, called the Cibell] in C major Z.T. 678

Suite No. 4 in A minor Z. 663

Prelude
Almand
Corant
Saraband

Round O in D minor Z.T. 684

Suite No. 7 in D minor Z. 668

Almand, very slow “Bell-bar
Corant
Hornpipe

Chacone in G minor Z.T. 680

— Pause —

W.A. Mozart (1756-1791)

Sonata No. 13 in B flat major Kv 333 (315c) op. 7 n° 2

Allegro
Andante cantabile
Allegretto grazioso

Adagio in B minor Kv 540

Photographic credits:

Grigory Sokolov © Vico Chamla