It’s more than seven years since Grigory Sokolov gave a recital in Britain. The UK’s stringent visa demands on visitors from Russia have discouraged him from coming here, and so, since that 2007 Wigmore Hall appearance, British audiences have been deprived of hearing one of the world’s greatest living pianists. Sokolov’s new recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon means that at least some of his performances will reach us – though whether the company will succeed in luring him into a recording studio remains to be seen. This recording of a recital he gave at the Salzburg festival in 2008 provides a sample of what we have been missing. Some of the playing is breathtaking in its clarity, articulation and colour. The first half of the recital was devoted to two of Mozart’s F major piano sonatas; the second to Chopin’s complete Preludes. It was followed by six encores. The Mozart playing may seem old-fashioned, but it overflows with vitality, each movement conceived as a single, sweeping entity, while each of the Chopin Preludes manages to conjure up a complete expressive world in a miniature frame. There’s more Chopin among the encores (two of the late mazurkas) along with Rameau, Bach, and Scriabin’s Two Poèmes, Op 69. It’s all to treasure.
