Grigory Sokolov

The evening at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, part of the Santa Cecilia Chamber Music Season, features three masterpieces masterfully performed by Russian pianist Grigory Sokolov: Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 4, Op. 7, and the Bagatelles, Op. 126; and Franz Schubert's Piano Sonata D 960.

Composed between 1796 and 1797, the Piano Sonata No. 4, Op. 7, is considered by some critics to be Beethoven's first major work; so much so that the composer himself published it with its own opus number (rather than together with other compositions) and titled it Grande sonata, a title by which it is often referred to. The Bagatelles, Op. 126, on the other hand, are six pieces for solo piano, composed by Beethoven in 1824 and published the following year. Beethoven dedicated them to his brother Nikolaus Johann van Beethoven (1776 -1848), writing to his publisher, Schott Music, that the Bagatelles Op. 126 were “probably the best I have ever written”.

Schubert's Sonata D960 is a model of sonata writing for piano: made up of four movements, it is dilated compared to the previous piano sonatas by Franz Schubert himself or even compared to the great Beethovenian reference.

Grigory Sokolov (St. Petersburg, 1950), a reserved artist deeply immersed in music, is renowned for his interpretative intensity and ability to bring every detail to life. Over a forty-year career, he has performed with the world's leading orchestras, never missing his annual appointment with the Santa Cecilia chamber music season.

Program:

Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 4, Op. 7
Beethoven Bagatelle, Op. 126
Schubert Piano Sonata, D. 960

Photo: