Hungary Byrd and Brahms: Grigory Sokolov (piano). Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, Müpa, Budapest, 23.4.2025. (LJ)
Byrd – John come kiss me now, T478 BK81 FVB10; The first pavane and the galliard to the first pavane, T487 BK29a. 29b FVB167, 168; Fantasia, T455 BK63 FVB8; Alman, T436 BK11 FVB163; The Earl of Salisbury Pavane and the first and second galliards, T503 BK15a, 15b, 15c; Callino casturame, T441 BK35 FVB158 [T – Richard Turbet; BK – Musica Britannica; FVB – Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
Brahms – Four Ballades, Op.10: No.1 in D minor, Andante; No.2 in D major, Andante; No.3 in B minor, Intermezzo – Allegro; No.4 in B major, Andante con moto; Two Rhapsodies, Op.79: No.1 in B minor, Agitato; No.2 in G minor, Molto passionate, ma non troppo allegro)
After winning the 1966 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow aged sixteen, Grigory Sokolov, who was born in Leningrad (today, Saint Petersburg), joined the ranks of John Ogdon and Vladimir Ashkenazy who jointly won the previous competition in 1962. Although championed by the great Emil Gilels, who was chairman of the competition’s jury, international success did not immediately follow. Due to the limited freedom of movement he experienced under the USSR, it was not until the end of the 1980s during Mikhail Gorbachev’s more open period of glasnost and perestroika that Sokolov’s international career could develop. Since 2015, he has released recordings of his live performances with Deutsche Grammophon. These recordings (reviewed by Stephen Greenbank on Seen and Heard’s associated site MusicWeb International) demonstrate Sokolov’s rich tone, impressive repertoire, and characteristic unfussiness.
Tone is indeed foremost for Sokolov. It is known that he spends a day working with each venue’s piano, instructing the tuner of what he needs from the instrument. Even during the interval of this recital, his tuner returned to the piano (which was guarded by two ushers) to make some minor adjustments. As Sokolov himself states in a quote in his biography for Deutsche Grammophon: ‘You need hours to understand the piano, because each one has its own personality and we play together.’ This togetherness could be felt in the sense of intimacy and communicative unity Sokolov demonstrated between his musical ideas and their expression.
Sokolov used the sustaining pedal sparingly, generating texture, rhythmic contrast and melodic shape through brilliant finger work and seeming lightness of touch. This could be heard in the six pieces by the early English composer, William Byrd. Performing sixteenth-century repertoire on a modern instrument is no small task and, at times, the Steinway seemed a little too unyielding. Yet, Sokolov managed to find connections between the world of Byrd, who, with Thomas Tallis, was one of the organists at the Chapel Royal during the reign of Elizabeth I and then James I, and that which we inhabit today. There is a profound sense of humanity in the works themselves and Sokolov brought out this quality in his performance. Of the humour, wit, and often stately sense of occasion (the pavanes and galliards being courtly dances) in Byrd’s compositions, I was slightly less convinced as the overall impression was more European Classical than English Renaissance. His performance of the more sombre ‘Earl of Salisbury’ pavane in the melancholic A-minor Aeolian mode, written in memory of Robert Cecil (the First Earl of Salisbury), and its sprightlier galliards were the highlight of the first half of the concert.
When I first saw the more unusual pairing of Byrd and Brahms, I was intrigued to see Byrd take the place of the more frequently paired Beethoven or Bach. I started to investigate the connection between Brahms and Bryd. Reading David Brodbeck’s chapter ‘The Brahms-Joachim Counterpoint Exchange; or, Robert, Clara, and “the Best Harmony between Jos. [violinist Joseph Joachim] and Joh. [Johannes Brahms]” in the first volume of Brahms Studies (1994), edited by Brodbeck, I learned that in April 1854 Brahms in fact ‘occupied himself with the study of early music […] using the rich resources of the Schumann library’ (p. 32) at their home in Düsseldorf. His so-called ‘canon studies’ saw him transcribe work by Renaissance and Baroque composers including Byrd. This period of led to creative experimentation in counterpoint and the composition of several canons and gigues. As Joachim wrote to the German writer Gisela von Arnim on 20 June 1856: ‘You ask for news of Brahms; all is very well with him, I am certain, for he must be feeling aware of his inner riches. Just lately he sent me some work, among which was a Fugue for Organ that combines depth and tenderness of feeling with a wealth of musical art so nobly that even Bach and Beethoven have scarcely excelled it.’
Fittingly, Sokolov’s pairing of Brahms’s Four Ballades, composed in 1854, coincides with the young composer’s period of exploration and investigation of early music at the Schumann library. This level of musicological interpretation and planning allows for exciting dialogues between different periods and places to surface. It is also what makes Sokolov’s recitals memorable. His performance effectively contrasted the sombre and introspective outer movements (especially the first movement in D minor) with the more dramatic middle sections that rise from piano to fortissimo. The quicksilver character of the third ballade (Intermezzo) in B minor was performed brilliantly as was the long descending melodic passage towards the end of the final ballade (Andante con molto). Here, Sokolov played the sarabande rhythm that Brahms incorporated into the left hand beautifully.
The Two Rhapsodies (in B minor and G minor) are amongst Brahms’s most well-known piano repertoire. They were premiered in 1880. The second rhapsody became particularly popular in performance. Brahms himself combined them with his Piano Concerto in B-flat No.2, Op 83 when giving recitals. In his performance of the slightly Schubertian middle section of the first rhapsody and the turbulent sonata form of the second rhapsody, Sokolov prioritised restraint over emotion and tension.
Of the audience members with whom I spoke, several were not readily familiar with Byrd’s work. For those interested in listening to more of Byrd’s pieces for keyboard performed on piano, I recommend Kit Armstrong’s recording William Byrd & John Bull: The Visionaries of Piano Music (Deutsche Grammophon, 2021), which has been reviewed on MusicWeb International. It was evident that the Brahms was better received by the audience at Budapest’s Művészetek Palotája (Müpa). The music itself, and indeed Sokolov’s interpretation of it, was much more familiar especially in light of Sokolov’s own recording of Brahms’s Four Ballades on his 2013 album Bach, Beethoven, Brahms & Chopin: The Recordings of Grigory Sokolov (Naïve Records).
Colin Clarke ended his review (here) of Sokolov’s recital at Austria’s Esterházy Palace from October 2020 by stating: ‘Sokolov’s reputation of one of the greatest – if not the greatest – living pianist[s] remains intact.’ If, in this performance, the whole was not quite greater than the sum of its parts, Sokolov’s brilliance as a pianist remains undeniable and his reputation as one of the greats holds.
Lucy Jeffery