(Grigory Sokolov | 2011 | Live) Bach: Clavierübung, Book II

This is a programme from Sokolov I'll never forget. Here's one I'll take the liberty to speak about from a personal perspective.
It was in the autumn of 2011 that I unsuspectingly sat down in a concert hall in Gävle, north of Stockholm, to listen to Sokolov play Bach and Brahms. The Bach the 28 year old me had recognized at that time was still primarily the logician and the pure musician - the Bach of Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, say, or the disembodied writing found in some of his organ works which is so general that it appears to have no author, and describe no material concepts. As Sokolov progressed however, and particularly in the remarkable French Overture, I realized that this was not Bach playing as I was used to, with the aim of presenting a musically compelling or 'personal' view of the polyphony. What transpired right in front of me was rather a full artistic and cultural recreation of Bach's world, where the music as Sokolov played it sprang organically out of the German baroque, as I knew it from architecture, painting, and craftsmanship. Here was the robust structures, the grandiloquent manner of expression, the noble aspiration, the weight, the might and the full forms. Here was even an abstract musical tale, with the grand ambition and long reaching lines of the opening Overture, to its obverse in the concluding Echo, with the dejection and injured pride, perhaps, which Bach's worthy procession in short and abruptly cut phrases brings the mind to.
To be fair, this is artistic and imaginative playing of a kind which is quite particular to Sokolov. Note the quirky portrait he paints of the Bourrée for instance, which I'm sure Bach himself meant as little more than a brisk dance. Yet, aside from the structural problem it helps alleviate by giving a middle movement the extra import, Sokolov's way with it too is typical for representation during the baroque, when a sculptor wouldn't portray his subjects neutrally, but give them a wide variety of expressive poses. Unlike more than one noted baroque artist however, when Sokolov is holding the brush the result is characteristic, but ever dignified and high-minded.
Leaving aside the discussion of how Bach himself might have played, or what is informed historical performance practice from a purely technical point of view, by his rigorous musicianship and the force of his imagination Sokolov's ability to put Bach's keyboard music into a cultural context was something I had never experienced. Where the works were no longer mind games in polyphonic form from an ancient master, but towering works of art, which reflect and suggest, which signal an era and define a people. The associations you often hear with Sokolov's Bach is to the rapid trills and the active piano playing, but it is my hope that at least a portion of you who do will, by these cues, see his work from a broader perspective. Since while the pianistic craftsmanship is extraordinary - granted - it is the imagination and the intellectuality which is Sokolov's true crowning achievement.
BACH: Clavierübung, Book 2
A. Italian Concerto, BWV 971
00:00 - I. Allegro
04:06 - II. Andante
08:23 - III. Presto
B. Overture in the French Style, BWV 831
12:03 - I. Overture
24:52 - II. Courante
27:13 - III. Gavotte I & II
31:29 - IV. Passepied I & II
35:03 - V. Sarabande
40:12 - VI. Bourrée I & II
44:03 - VII. Gigue
46:23 - VIII. Echo
Grigory Sokolov, piano
Source: Audience Recording
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[@suevancolle9224]

Pure music without ego. Superb spiritual sound.

[@philipwedekind8138]

Thank you so much for posting this. I adore Sokolov's playing, but as a listener am often frustrated by his apparent distaste (or impatience) with the recording studio, which means one must rely on the kindness of strangers with recording equipment in their laps (!) to get a true measure of his artistry. So thank you again for that, and for the terrific essay as well.

[@m.l.pianist2370]

He's probably the only pianist whose playing **sounds** erudite in the best sense of the word. Other great pianists are poetic dreamers, refined colorists, charming raconteurs, fascinating eccentrics, and so on, but with Sokolov, an experienced listener can't help but speak in metaphysical terms, so it heartens me to read your perceptive description of his playing.

[@mcintertz5593]

Wonderful there is no more precise or focused pianist alive, he brings total clarity to Bach’s masterpieces

[@albusdumbledore6578]

This is too beautiful to be true. Sounds like crystals. Thank you so much for sharing.

[@screumeuleu]

Sokolov the king of imagination, you're right ! But as a listener, I sit on a wild horse and have to master my imagination and concentrate on few memories of these times, to be able to grasp this other world (my english doesn't improve)

[@NyebolszinAntal1968]

👏👏👏🙏🙏🙏