The Russian pianist, Grigory Sokolov, began studying the piano at the age of five and at seven he entered the Leningrad Conservatory. He gave his first major recital in Moscow at the age of 12, and came to international attention after winning the 1966 International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition.
In the 40 years since the this award, the world has been blessed with what one American critic recently called “a kind of pianism, musicianship and artistry one thought had vanished forever”.
He has amazed everyone again and again with the enormous breadth of his repertoire and his huge, almost physical musical strength. Using little pedal, and thus superior finger-work, he draws from the concert grand an immense variety of sounds; he has an unlimited palette of colors, and spontaneous imagination with outstanding musicianship.
Here is Mr. Sokolov in a familiar composition by Chopin:
