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| BARENBOIM and SOKOLOV in London Daniel Barenboim Brahms Piano Concertos Nos 1 & 2
Schubert Piano Sonata in A, D.959 During a 22 hours span Daniel Barenboim now, given his other responsibilities a part-time pianist, played both Brahms concertos, twice each. Why? Rather than recycled programme notes of each concerto it would have been more illuminating to have had Barenboim's own thoughts about this uncommon project. There is an appetite for marathons, musical and sporting (Paula Radcliffe has just been winning hers again in London; the pianist Ian Pace is a marathon new music runner, and Julian Jacobson has recently performed all the Beethoven piano sonatas in one day.) The first of these concerts was disconcerting. During the first performance of the first concerto Barenboim seemed stiff and uneasy, hammering vehemently at the loud passages in competition with Pappano's LSO. There was beautiful, fluent playing in the quieter music, but for the many recurring climaxes Barenboim's tone was forced, too bright in the treble and a little odd; I began to wonder whether the Steinway had not been set up correctly? At the end of the interval (delayed because of 'unforeseen circumstances') I found that I had not been far out; the stage had become an operating theatre, with a piano surgeon and his assistants clustered around the piano, with their box of implements on the piano stool. During the operation a string was extracted and replaced. The difference afterwards was remarkable. In concerto No.2, Barenboim's tone was transformed, warm and full, his body language changed, posture more mobile and flexible, and a feeling of empathy with the conductor and orchestra that had been absent previously. Balance was natural, with the piano sometimes playing along as part of the orchestra in a manner reminding one of 18 C continuo practice, something we're never allowed to experience in recordings. Many speculations ensued, and it would be great to know Barenboim's own perceptions of this concert, and whether this afternoon's repeat performances were different for him and for those there. Is the second concerto a better, and 25 years on a better composed work? I enjoyed it throughout, as soloist and orchestra appeared to do also (from our press seats, Pappano was practically invisible behind the piano lid); small blemishes in live performance do not bother me. The slow movement sang, the duet with solo cello contributing to a chamber music feel; the finale was playful in a way that nothing before it had been in this mighty pair of works, each of them longer than any of the symphonies. Grigory Sokolov inhabits a private world of his own and pays no deference to his listeners. He plunges his audience into virtual darkness and would prefer them not to applaud. The Schubert Sonata riveted the attention of a rapt and silent audience. He stifled applause after the group of four Chopin impromptus, taking the Chopin half as a continuous sequence, almost as if it was a whole equivalent to the sonata. Chopin would have thought that bizarre? That he judged wrongly may be evidenced by the outbreaks of coughing in so long a Chopin group, following which his fans, having had to work hard for them, were granted four encores, pieces by Rameau and Chopin mazurkas. Before that those with ears to hear were regaled with super-subtle pianism, notable for architectural grasp of the sonata and voicing of every moment with infallible fingers and arm weight at the service of acute ears and a brain constantly aware of the significance of every modulation or move to a new thought throughout the long evening. Rubato in both composers was 'under-done', but invariably telling and never gratuitous. These interpretations are always honed to the nth degree and Sokolov tours a new programme each year, rarely (to my knowledge) involving himself with concertos, chamber music or studio recording. Not an easy candidate for promotion and hype, Sokolov has advanced (?) in his UK appearances from the Wigmore Hall to Queen Elisabeth Hall, filling both; next year he'll pack Festival Hall possibly....... Great pianists are as unique as are great singers. Totally different and contradictory in personality, pianism and professional trajectory though Barenboim and Sokolov be, the strangeness of the Sokolov phenomenon brought to mind also Glenn Gould, who retreated from concert life to his personal recording studio at home. Gould's numerous recordings enjoy a posthumous cult fame. Barenboim has a vast discography; Sokolov's is select, and entirely recorded live. We are fortunate to have indispensable recent DVDs to enjoy both Sokolov and Barenboim at their characteristic best; Sokolov in Paris playing a marvellous recital in the near-dark, Barenboim in Buenos Aires revelling in an adulatory relationship with his fellow Argentineans who packed the vast Teatro Colon to celebrate his 50 years on stage. Both pianists give encores; Barenboim thirteen of them ! Both DVDs merit pride of place in any DVD pianists collection. |