87th Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Festival

Grigory Sokolov

Monday, June 16th, 2025 at 8:00 p.m., in Zubin Mehta Hall, Grigory Sokolov returns to the Maggio.

The evening, in co-production with ‘Amici della Musica di Firenze’, features compositions by William Byrd and Johannes Brahms.

In co-production with the Amici della Musica di Firenze

Florence, June 13th, 2025 – Monday, June 16th 2025 at 8:00 p.m. - in Zubin Mehta Hall - pianist Grigory Sokolov returns just over a year after his last performance.

The concert, two days after that of Yo Yo-Ma, is also on this occasion a co-production with the Amici della Musica di Firenze.

Grigory Sokolov, who made his debut at the Maggio in the spring of 2015 ten years ago – and made his debut in the Friends of Music seasons in 1969 – began playing the piano at the age of five and, two years later, began 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 debut recital in his hometown in 1962. Sokolov's talent was recognized in 1966 when at 16 he became the youngest musician to receive the gold medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. He performed extensively as a soloist in concert with top-level orchestras, including 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.

The performance on June 16 features music by William Byrd and Johannes Brahms: the evening opens with “John come kiss me now” and continues, in this order, with “The first pavan. The galliard to the first pavan”; with “Fantasia”; “Alman”; “Pavan: The Earl of Salisbury. Galliard. Second galliard” and “Callino casturame”, all music by William Byrd.

The concert closes with two compositions by Brahms, namely “Four Ballads” op. 10 and “Two Rhapsodies” op. 79.
 

The concert: 

William Byrd
William Byrd, a Tudor composer, was one of the greatest English composers of the late Renaissance. Born in London in 1540, he began studying music at a young age. He was a pupil of Thomas Tallis and later a prominent member of the choir of the Chapel Royal as well as organist and choirmaster of Lincoln Cathedral. He cultivated many musical genres of his time from sacred music to secular polyphony, also dedicating himself to instrumental music. His production of keyboard works includes pieces of various nature such as variations, dances and arias inspired by English folk heritage and he was one of the authors of the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, the first collection of keyboard pages of the late Elizabethan period. From this collection are taken John come kiss me now, Alman and Callino casturame, ancient melodies of the Anglo-Saxon tradition accompanied by long sequences of increasingly florid variations. From Parthenia or The Maydenhead, an anthology of works by Byrd, John Bull and Orlando Gibbons published in 1613, are taken The first Pavan, The Galliard to the first Pavan, Fantasia and Pavan: The Earl of Salisbury. Galliard. Second Galliard, Renaissance court dances enriched with trills, embellishments and contrapuntal interweavings.

Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms dedicated many pieces of various kinds to the piano, his favourite instrument and lifelong companion, throughout his career. As with other nineteenth-century composers – Schubert, Mendelssohn and Schumann – the short piano page also represented for Brahms the privileged place for the most intimate confessions and for abandonment to nostalgic yearning. The Four Ballades op. 10 were composed in 1854; at the time the composer was twenty-one years old and in presenting them to the publisher Senff he defined them as “pieces easy to play and easy to understand”. Inspired by the Scottish poem Edward, the Four Ballades are characterised by nostalgic tones and a piano writing often imbued with melancholy and tenderness. The Two Rhapsodies op. 10 date back to the summer of 1879. 79. The first, in the key of B minor, presents two distinct and strongly characterized themes: the first is rhythmic and vigorous, the second is melodic and tinged with a slight restlessness. The second, in the key of G minor, like the first, is built on the contrast of two opposite themes: the first is melodic and relaxed, the second rhythmic and vital.