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Purcell & Mozart
Purcell & Mozart in Bloomington, MN
Current price: $24.99
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Grigory Sokolov
, among the greatest and also among the most temperamental of modern pianists, took 20 years off from recording but has returned with great success, mostly in live formats that seem to serve him well. He still sounds marvelous well into his eighth decade, and his new musical utterances are anxiously awaited; this one made classical best-seller charts in the summer of 2024. It offers a good example of
Sokolov
's unique style, with a precise but rich and even lush sound forged with careful keyboard attacks and judicious use of the pedal. This is true even in the music of
Henry Purcell
, which occupies the first part of this double-CD set. Obviously, this is not an authentic performance of
Purcell
, but
manages to define it as part of the Baroque; it is not a Romantic performance of Baroque music. One could devote an entire afternoon just to
's shaping of the ornaments in the music. For the unusual program pairing of
and
Mozart
, presumably joined because of a common youthful, nostalgic lyricism, one might have thought
would have mixed the two composers on the program. In fact, in these recordings taken from two live performances, he turns first to
and then to
, and actually, this is right; he has a long line that runs all the way through the
works, incorporating internal contrasts like that between the little
New Irish Tune
New Scotch Tune
. The
section reaches its climax with an epic performance of the
Adagio in B minor, K. 540
, which loses its usual enervated feel in favor of more tragic stature. The staff at these Spanish live performances failed in its task of handing out cough suppressants as audience members entered, but this album represents, as usual, profound work from
, with a set of five encores that concludes with a really chilling
Bach
Prelude in E minor, BWV 855
, in the arrangement by
Alexander Siloti
. ~ James Manheim
, among the greatest and also among the most temperamental of modern pianists, took 20 years off from recording but has returned with great success, mostly in live formats that seem to serve him well. He still sounds marvelous well into his eighth decade, and his new musical utterances are anxiously awaited; this one made classical best-seller charts in the summer of 2024. It offers a good example of
Sokolov
's unique style, with a precise but rich and even lush sound forged with careful keyboard attacks and judicious use of the pedal. This is true even in the music of
Henry Purcell
, which occupies the first part of this double-CD set. Obviously, this is not an authentic performance of
Purcell
, but
manages to define it as part of the Baroque; it is not a Romantic performance of Baroque music. One could devote an entire afternoon just to
's shaping of the ornaments in the music. For the unusual program pairing of
and
Mozart
, presumably joined because of a common youthful, nostalgic lyricism, one might have thought
would have mixed the two composers on the program. In fact, in these recordings taken from two live performances, he turns first to
and then to
, and actually, this is right; he has a long line that runs all the way through the
works, incorporating internal contrasts like that between the little
New Irish Tune
New Scotch Tune
. The
section reaches its climax with an epic performance of the
Adagio in B minor, K. 540
, which loses its usual enervated feel in favor of more tragic stature. The staff at these Spanish live performances failed in its task of handing out cough suppressants as audience members entered, but this album represents, as usual, profound work from
, with a set of five encores that concludes with a really chilling
Bach
Prelude in E minor, BWV 855
, in the arrangement by
Alexander Siloti
. ~ James Manheim
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