Friday December 12th, at 8:30 p.m., at Lingotto Auditorium
Unanimously considered one of the greatest living performers, Grigory Sokolov has always pursued the deepest meaning of the works that make up his vast repertoire; an absolute dedication which, combined with his constant presence on the world’s greatest stages, makes each of his concerts a listening experience of rare intensity. After the success of the last two seasons, he returns to Lingotto Auditorium with a program dedicated to Beethoven and Brahms.
The Lingotto Musica per la comunità program starts
With the charity partner Fondazione La Stampa – Specchio dei tempi, the Lingotto Musica per la comunità program starts: an initiative that puts the power of music at the service of the community, providing visibility for organizations that work every day to help those in need. A charitable organization that has been working for 70 years in Piedmont, Italy, and around the world to support the elderly, children, vulnerable families, and homeless people, Fondazione La Stampa – Specchio dei tempi considers Tredicesime dell’Amicizia to be one of its most heartfelt initiatives.
The prodigious Grigory Sokolov
Grigory Sokolov’s talent was recognized in 1966 when, at just sixteen years of age, he became the youngest musician ever to win First Prize at the Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow. With the collapse of the USSR, he gradually established himself on the international scene. He toured extensively in the United States and Japan and collaborated with the most prestigious orchestras before devoting himself exclusively to solo recitals. Recitals, in which he is able to establish a deep connection with his audience, are in fact the only way to appreciate an artist who is naturally inclined to be wary of studio recordings. His rare recordings, exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon since 2014, are almost exclusively live and include a repertoire from Purcell to Rachmaninov, passing through the great composers of the 19th century.
A program dedicated to Beethoven and Brahms
Sonata No. 4 in E-flat major, op. 7, is an important milestone in the development of the young Ludwig van Beethoven. Published with a single opus number, the first edition brings the title Grande Sonata. With this work, Beethoven elevated the sonata to a genre equal in dignity to the quartet and the symphony. The six Bagatelles, op. 126, are one of his last piano compositions.
The imaginative power of Robert Schumann’s music reverberates in Johannes Brahms’s four Ballades, op. 10, composed in 1854 and published two years later. The Ballades are presented as a unified cycle, a sort of musical meditation on the tragic story told in the traditional Scottish ballad Edward. In this poem, the young prince confesses a terrible crime to his mother and is forced to leave his homeland forever. A quarter of a century later, the Nordic atmospheres and ardent mood of the early ballads return to characterize two works from the composer’s mature period: the Rhapsodies, op. 79, performed for the first time in 1880 by Brahms.