Great Performers

#Brahms125

Artist

Grigory Sokolov, piano

Program

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

15 Variations and Gugue in E-flat major, Op. 35 “Eroica Variations” (1802)

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

3 Intermezzi, Op. 117 (1892)

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

Kreisleriana, Op. 16 (1838)

Romantic Fantasies

Grigory Sokolov returns to the Festival, and Sokolov never leaves anyone indifferent. Sokolov is not a pianist who gets entangled in discovering talents hidden by the veil of time, but rather offers new perspectives on works well established in tradition. Thus Beethoven’s Heroic Variations, which are based on a theme that the brilliant composer began using in his ballet The Creatures of Prometheus and went through some other pieces of the time including Symphony No. 3, to which it owes its title. And along with Beethoven, music by two composers who may be considered as his artistic sons: Schumann with his Kreisleriana, a work inspired by a literary character from E.T.A. Hoffmann, the Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler, a man touched by madness; and Brahms with his 3 Intermezzi, Op. 117, so distinctive of the unadorned essence of his latest works.