Grigory Sokolov

Grigory Sokolov is among those exclusive soloists who elevate music to unimagined heights every time, managing to surprise even the choosiest of audiences. With only two exceptions, he has guest-performed at Konserthuset each year since 2004 in an annual October concert. Every concert with Sokolov is unique in its own way, for while his technique is utterly peerless, he rarely adheres to a template for piano virtuosos. His interpretations are deeply personal.

The eight movements of Schumann’s Kreisleriana, inspired by E.T.A. Hoffmann’s tales about the conductor Johannes Kreisler, moves between furious outbursts and heartfelt warmth. There are reasons to suspect that the music reflects Schumann’s state of mind at the time.

Rachmaninoff’s ten piano preludes are magnificent and they tell us something about the the composer's own impressive skills at the piano. The preludes were first performed by Rachmaninoff himself at a concert in Moscow in 1903. Dramatic and virtuosic for sure, but the main character is that of intimacy in these pieces, the most famous being the ”marching” prelude in g minor.