Grigory Sokolov - Brahms: Ballades Op. 10, Sonata in F Minor (2002)

Pianist Grigory Sokolov sinks his huge paws and eager jaws into the composer’s F minor Sonata and Four Ballades, pushing the music’s structural parameters and huge sonorities to the proverbial max. Listeners expecting a semblance of classical propriety à la Solomon and Kempff (in the Sonata) or Gould and Michelangeli (in the Ballades) probably will cringe at Sokolov’s outsized rubatos, steroid-induced dynamic contrasts, and highly idiosyncratic tempo fluctuations. Yet Sokolov’s imposing command of Brahms’ tumultuous textures, together with his unflagging intensity and sense of projection, manage to compel your attention throughout these live performances. Even the close-up, tinny engineering fails to miniaturize such mega-pianism. In all, these are adventurous antipodes to Rubinstein’s evergreen reference Brahms F minor and Michelangeli’s Apollonian Op. 10 Ballades, but they’re not for the faint-hearted or lily-eared.