Vladimir Sofronitzky

Last week I had birthday and I bought a 9 CDs box for myself 8)
The Vladimir Sofronitzky Edition which is really new on the German market! At first I listened to the first and second CD which have all Scriabin live program (all recordings here are live!) and I became totally enthusiastic about him.
Now I can understand why Richter called him "a god". He has never any exaggeration, but plays all things (I also heard him playing Chopin, Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Liszt from this edition) so naturally and so comfortably, but always shows what the very soul of each piece is, as if he created all of them. He has a perfect technique, but his performances sound really different from the super virtuosos of our time. After I heard his Scriabin, I feel I experienced the true essence of Scriabin... (But these CD include only the first movement of the second sonata, not the presto. Strange. Does it mean he really played only the andante of this sonata on a recital??)
But (the booklet says) he never heard Scriabin's performance, even though he married the pianist daughter of Scriabin.

 

My favourite pianist of all times.
Bye,
S.

 

Safronitsky

It would be very difficult to find a pianist who could play Scriabin better that Sofronitzky. He was the pianists' pianist.

 

Thanks for this precious information! (Where did you get it? In a biography?) Then does it mean that there isn't any recording of second movement by him?
The set doesn't include the Fantasy, so I don't know the recording...
And the box set is available in any CD store in Germany and also in amazone.de:
http://www.amazon.de/Historical-Rus...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1218607203&sr=1-1

 

Thank you so much for the link! I knew the Fantasy only from recording of Bernd Glemser, but this performance opened me a completely new musical world! It's simply magical.
(I never came to the idea to search Sofronitzky on Youtube, thanks again )

 

You're kidding me? Sofrinitzsky is incredible at the keyboard with the kind of intensity seen no where else. I can't even think of a generalized complaint someone could make about him, unless they just weren't fond of his interpretation of a particular piece. I have read everything i can about him, and listened several times to every recording i could find(even the one's i didn't prefer as much ) That man was a second father figure to me, and almost as meaningful in terms of development cognitively and emotionally. The most strange part is, he is even the son in law of my absolute favorite composer. Him and Richter basically sum up my childhood. I am wondering though, if any one here really thinks he interprets pieces incorrectly?