(Grigory Sokolov | 2014 | Live) Two Encores

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