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This is a deceptively obscure piece in Sokolov's repertoire. It wasn't part of the sets of ten Mazurkas he played in either 2000 or 2013. Nor the set of six in 1994. But it was part of a set of eight he played in 1977, and almost 40 years later he momentarily revived it as an encore piece, a position it kept for little more than a year before he dropped it again. It would be a shame if it was forgotten since it is a beautiful and thoughtful take on the composition. They are two quite different pianists, but in tone it reminds me of Smeterlin's wonderful recording of the Nocturne in the same key from , which you can hear over at Erwin's channel (pianopera). Sokolov's Chopin will of course always be an acquired taste, and the Mazurkas especially so, with the folk element removed and their weight inflated from worldly poetry to metaphysical philosophy, but I've learned to like them. Nay, love them, for as a personality only Ignaz Friedman is as dear to me in the music. Sokolov finds content in them you cannot get elsewhere, and the piano playing is gorgeous, with the proper attention to phrasing and detail every great performance of them have. Only with GS the detail is ever so often in the fine gradations of sound and character, rather than in the intricacies of the text, as has otherwise been customary to take interest in. Appended is a similar rarity from his repertoire in a little waltz by the Russian diplomat etc Alexander Griboyedov (1795-1829), added to his encore suite at around the same time as the Mazurka. I'm sure there is a story to tell here, but I don't know it. Griboyedov was a minor composer whose two sole surviving works - waltzes for piano in A-flat and E min - have never been part of the standard repertoire. I can imagine this waltz has featured in Russian album collections and the like, for its simplicity and charm, but to my knowledge Sokolov is the first pianist in history to take it with him on tour. 00:00 - Chopin: Mazurka in G minor, No.2 02:51 - Griboyedov: Waltz No.2 in E minor Grigory Sokolov, piano Source: Audience Recording -------------------- Sokolov's pages:
