Grigory Sokolov, the greatest living pianist is coming to Groningen. He considers the wing as a partner with equal rights

Sokolov is regarded as the last great pianist of the Russian school. In fact, many music lovers consider him the greatest living pianist. In De Oosterpoort, where he was a regular guest during his long career, he plays works by Henry Purcell and Wolfang Amadeus Mozart.

Sokolov is now 72 years old and has been officially Spaniard since 2022. Shortly after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, he donated the proceeds of a recital in Vienna to the Ukrainian Red Cross, thereby taking a stand against Russian aggression. But with Sokolov it’s all about the music.

The wing as a partner

As a small child he wanted to be a conductor, but after he got a piano at the age of five, he never wanted anything else. “Nowadays you see pianists and violinists everywhere who want to become conductors later in life,” he says in one of the rare interviews he gave. “It was the other way around for me.”

In the same interview he is unflattering about the collaboration with conductors with whom he has performed during his career. That is why he has not played as a soloist with orchestras for years. I prefer to give recitals. Then I have everything in my own hands.”

Sokolov is known for extensively examining the grand pianos he plays before his concerts. “I see a wing as a partner with equal rights and a life of its own,” he once said. “We need to find common ground.”

Competition as a necessary evil

Since 2014 he is under contract with the Deutsche Grammophon label where he only releases albums with concert recordings. “No concert is the same and with good artists the concerts are better than the records,” he says. “With mediocre ones, the records are often much better.”

Sokolov has been giving recitals since he won the famous Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1966 as a 16-year-old. He considered his participation a necessary evil, because competition and music do not go together according to him. “It was the only way to start a career.”

Immense musicality

The idiosyncrasy and individuality that characterize Sokolov can also be heard in the music he plays. In 2014 Sokolov gave a Chopin recital in Groningen, but as a visitor you thought you were listening to Beethoven one moment and Scarlatti the next. He even disintegrated one of Chopin’s late mazurkas as if it were a twentieth-century composition.

Grigory Sokolov is a musical genius. No one can do magic with timbres and phrasing like he does. In my review I wrote at the time: ‘Sokolov’s knowledge of the material is so great, his mastery of the piano so complete, and – above all – his musicality so immense that as a listener you often cannot help but go along with him in his private musical logic.’