Again at Maggio, Monday 13 March 2023 at 20 in Sala Zubin Mehta, the great pianist Grigory Sokolov for a concert in co-production with the Amici della Musica di Firenze. On the bill the compositions of Henry Purcell and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Florence, March 10, 2023 – Monday March 13 at 20 in Sala Zubin Mehta after a year – it was March 2022 – from his last performance, the great pianist Grigory Sokolov for a concert in co-production with the Amici della Musica di Firenze. Opening the evening, a selection of compositions by Henry Purcell where there are evident references to Anglo-Saxon folk song but also to the tradition of Renaissance virginalists: Ground in Gamut in G major Z. 645, the Suite no. 2 in G minor Z. 661, A New Irish Tune [Lilliburlero] in G major Z. 646, A New Scotch Tune in G major Z. 655, [Trumpet Tune, called the Cibell] in C major Z.T. 678, Suite no. 4 in A minor Z. 663, Round O in D minor Z.T. 684, Suite no. 7 in D minor Z. 668 and the Chacone in G minor Z.T. 680.

The second part of the program is instead focused on two compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: the Sonata n. 13 in B flat major K. 333 made in September 1778 which represents the attempt to satisfy the needs of the Parisian environment by leveraging a simpler piano language and in line with the gallant style then in vogue and the Adagio in B minor K. 540, composed in March 1788, perhaps imagined as a movement of a sonata or perhaps as a piece intended for didactic use.

Grigory Sokolov, who made his Maggio debut in spring 2015, and made his debut in the Amici della Musica seasons back in 1969, began playing the piano at the age of five and, two years later, began his studies with Liya Zelikhman at the “Central Special School” of the Leningrad Conservatory. He continued to receive lessons from Moisey Khalfin at the Conservatory and gave his hometown recital debut in 1962. Sokolov’s prodigious talent was recognized in 1966 when at 16 he became the youngest musician ever to be awarded the D gold at the “International Tchaikovsky Competition” in Moscow. He performed extensively as a concert soloist with orchestras of the highest caliber, collaborating among others with the New York Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, the Philharmonia London, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the Munich Philharmonic, before deciding to focus exclusively on solo performance. In 2014 Sokolov signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon and in January of the following year his first album was released, a sensational recital recorded live at the 2008 Salzburg Festival.

His performance programs are characterized by numerous nuances, from transcriptions of medieval sacred polyphony and keyboard works by Byrd, Couperin, Rameau, Froberger and Bach to the entire classical and romantic repertoire with particular attention to Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin , Brahms and 20th century landmark compositions by Prokofiev, Ravel, Rachmaninov, Schönberg and Stravinsky.

The concert:

Henry Purcell
Ground in Gamut in G major Z. 645, the Suite no. 2 in G minor Z. 661, A New Irish Tune [Lilliburlero] in G major Z. 646, A New Scotch Tune in G major Z. 655, [Trumpet Tune, called the Cibell] in C major Z.T. 678, Suite no. 4 in A minor Z. 663, Round O in D minor Z.T. 684, Suite no. 7 in D minor Z. 668, Chacone in G minor Z.T. 680

Henry Purcell began his career as a young cantor of the chapel royal. He was then at the service of the English court as a musician and organist of Westminster Abbey and soon became famous as a composer too, creating works for the theatre, instrumental and vocal music as well as celebratory pages for solemn events. A versatile composer, he assimilated the Italian and French experiences, merging them into a style firmly anchored in the English musical tradition. In many of his works there are in fact clear references to Anglo-Saxon folk song but also to the tradition of Renaissance virginalists. The originality of his music can be found not only in the theatrical field but also in the instrumental one. The production dedicated to the keyboard includes pieces of different nature: suites, variations, dances and arias inspired by the English popular heritage. Among them, the most relevant part is represented by the eight suites for harpsichord created in the penultimate decade of the seventeenth century. The second and fourth suites have the same pattern of successive dances – Allemanda, Corrente and Sarabanda – preceded by a Prelude, while the seventh suite opens with the Allemanda followed by Corrente and Hornpipe. The New Scottish air Z. 655 and the New Irish air Z. 646, based on a satirical ballad entitled Lilliburlero, are instead connected to the Anglo-Saxon popular tradition. Of theatrical derivation is Round 0 in D minor Z. 684, a page with a captivating melody taken from the incidental music by Abdelazer. The transcription genre includes Trumpet Tune Z. 678, obtained from a piece for trumpet and strings entitled Cibell, of a pompous and solemn character, while Ground in Gamut and the Chaconne in G minor Z. 680 are variations on an ostinato bass, a kind of great fashion in the Baroque era.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Sonata no. 13 in B flat major K. 333
Adagio in B minor K. 540

In the summer of 1777 Mozart embarked on a journey that would take him to Germany and France. After stops in Augsburg, Munich and Mannheim he reached Paris, but his stay did not go as he had hoped. The French public, which had acclaimed him so much as an enfant prodige in the past, had changed, no longer as sensitive and attentive to his music as in the past; and to this was also added the mourning for the death of his beloved mother, who had accompanied him on the journey. But on the side of creativity the Parisian period did not pass in vain. In fact, in one of the last letters written to his father before leaving, Mozart talks about the compositions he made during his stay: three piano concerts and six sonatas. The last of these, the Sonata in B flat major KV 333 was made in September 1778 and represents an attempt to satisfy the needs of the Parisian environment by leveraging a simpler piano language in line with the gallant style of the time cool. However, in the final Rondò, the most interesting of the three movements of the Sonata, Mozart experiments with sonorities that bring it closer to the Concerto for soloist and orchestra by inserting, as was the practice in concerts but not in sonatas, a cadenza before the end.
As short as it is intense, the Adagio in B minor KV 540 is a singular work in Mozart’s catalog as it remained isolated. Of a free and rhapsodic nature, it was composed in March 1788, perhaps imagined as a movement of a sonata or perhaps as a piece intended for didactic use. Despite the vagueness of its origin, the Adagio is considered by many commentators to be one of the most heartfelt and expressive piano pieces in Mozart’s piano literature, perfect and accomplished just as it is.