Choose artist...

Top 10 for Dec

Grigory Sokolov's approach to Beethoven's music on his new recital disc is intuitive, highly thoughtful and extremely musical / Classical Music Sentinel

Thank goodness there are still musicians around who don't confuse Allegro with Presto, or Presto with Prestissimo. It's unbelievable the number of younger, up-and-coming pianists these days that feel they have to play everything as fast as possible. What are they trying to prove besides the fact that they don't have one musical bone in their body. The first time I heard Russian pianist Grigory Sokolov was in the early 1990s when he was recording for the Opus 111 label (now defunct or under the umbrella of the Naïve label) and I was highly impressed by his musicianship. There was an integrity, a solidity to his musical thought process back then that remains to this day. His approach to Beethoven's music on this new recital disc is intuitive, highly thoughtful and extremely musical. The various nuanced shades and gradations of dynamics he brings to the music are subtle yet well defined, and add to the music's ebb and flow, and forward rhythmic pulse. His control on phrasing in Beethoven reveals the inner structure of the music at all times. His Brahms is imbued with a freedom of expression that only years of association with this composer's music could allow to percolate to the surface. His Rameau is elegant, pointed and refined. And his interpretation of the Debussy Des pas sur la neige reveals a strange sadness within the music hitherto unnoticed by myself.

READ THE FULL Classical Music Sentinel REVIEW