The master of the piano
by malwina_ielts7 on August 31, 2008
in students
On Sunday 24th I went to Warsaw to the concert at the Chopin and his Europe festival. It has been organized every year in the second half of August since 2005 and it offers listeners classical music dating from Mozart through classical times (Chopin to a large extent), with some XXth century music in addition. I chose a piano recital by Grigory Sokolov, a pianist of whom I’ve heard a bit on the radio and from other sources, but I never imagined his playing would be so captivating. I must admit I was totally taken aback with his performances of the two Mozart’sSonatas and Chopin’s 24 Preludes.
First of all, he amazed the listeners with an extraordinarily brilliant sound he managed to get out of the piano. Thanks to that, every note was heard well even at the fartherst rows (I sat in the 20th), even when he played pianissimo. Also, Grigory Sokolov presented an extremely high level of musical technique, understood not only as the ability of playing correct keys in a very fast tempo (which he also had), but as a set of different means of expression. Especially in Chopin’s Preludes he included an incredible number of fascinating ideas, put a lot of attention to the details others tend to skip, and managed to play each of 24 short pieces in a distinctive way. And, above all, his performances were really natural and could appeal to every listener, regardless of their musical education.
And they really did. The whole audience admired his playing and clapped enthustiastically, willing to hear more. Grigory Sokolov ended his recital with six encores, confirming that he is one of the best present-day pianists.
If you want hear Grigory Sokolov, go here