Yesterday RAI3 broadcast part of a concert that Grigori Sokolov gave in Rome in March 2004. It is so exceptional that I thought I would post it here, even if it is a bit different from the usual fare. Sonata no. 11 is read as if it is a Tolstoy novel - uniquely observed epsiodes held together by an inexorable narrative thread. The reading of no. 32 is extraordinary; never have I heard the Maestoso played with more bite and venom, and never have I heard it contrasted in the later movements with more aching pathos.
