Denis Kozhukhin - Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Sonatas Nos. 6-8 'The War Sonatas' (2013)

26 year-old Denis Kozhukhin arrives on the recording scene fully-fledged, like Athena springing from the head of Zeus. Intellect is central: I’ve never heard so much revelatory detail in Prokofiev’s triptych of dark and painful masterpieces. Kozhukhin has a way of bringing out the detail of the inner parts, or even a usually inconsequential-seeming bass line, that highlights the drama instead of distracting from it; there’s so much internal play in the droll march-scherzo of the Sixth Sonata, so much genius revealed about the way Prokofiev elaborates or dislocates the minuet theme at the heart of the Eighth. The touch is one that the composer-pianist would probably applaud: clear rather than dry, recorded with superb presence and ringing treble, bringing in the sustaining pedal with mesmerising care only to nuance the more pensive themes.

Sometimes the head rules the heart too much; when Prokofiev withdraws into private grief, Kozhukhin often only goes so far to meet him. The slow movements lack introspection, the dynamics are often just that bit too loud; the climaxes never quite tear at the soul. The finales of the Sixth and Seventh lack the ideal demonic spring. Yet somehow Kozhukhin does pull all the strands together in the great parade of the Eighth’s concluding vivace, a stunning tour de force at the end of an always thought-provoking trilogy.

Review by David Nice, BBC Music Magazine

When Vladimir Ashkenazy won the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1956, the runners-up were John Browning, André Tchaikowsky, Cecile Ousset, and Lazar Berman. While the Competition hasn’t been able to maintain that kind of heady stature, it’s still a major plum—and on the basis of the exceptional performances here, Denis Kozhukhin very much deserved his 2010 victory. Two virtues are especially striking. First, his magisterial sense of vertical balance: his playing stands out for his superb weighting of his accompaniments (note the dialogic way he treats the opening of the third movement of the Sixth) and his lucid textures (as is especially clear in the Finale of the Sixth, he’s got a special knack for bringing out superimposed rhythms). Second, his horizontal resilience: no matter how jagged the profile or how quirky the rhythm, Kozhukhin manages to maintain the elasticity of the phrase, keeping up the sense of progress even in music that, in lesser hands, can turn repetitious. But these unfailingly imaginative and detailed readings reveal plenty of other musical virtues as well: artfully graded dynamics, a fine sense of contrast (note the distinction between the first and second themes in the first movement of the Seventh), a solid recognition of musical architecture.

Granted, Kozhukhin, while technically impressive (as contest winners tend to be), is not quite a super virtuoso. He throws off the treacherous conclusion of the Eighth’s finale with unblanching intensity, but the ending of the development in the first movement brings a few moments of strain. Then, too, for all his attention to the subtle changes of the music’s harmonic fragrance, the slower passages (where his somewhat lean tone sometimes lets him down) don’t always probe as deeply as they might. Certainly, the central panel of the Seventh is more notable for the way he builds the music’s fury than for the way he explores its doubts and ambiguities. Still, these are minor drawbacks on a distinguished release.

The sound is fine, and Daniel Jaffé fits a lot of information into the brief space he’s been allotted for his notes (although it’s curious that this disc is released under the title The War Sonatas , since the notes argue against the use of that soubriquet). Final word: There’s plenty of competition in this repertoire, not only from past masters like Cliburn (in the Sixth), Horowitz (in the Seventh), Argerich (in the Seventh), Gilels (in the Eighth), and Richter (in all three), to name but a few, but also from mid-career pianists such as Anne-Marie McDermott (an ear-opening set of the entire sonata cycle) and from such newcomers as Polina Leschenko (in the Seventh). Still, if Kozhukhin is not yet quite in that company, he’s only a step behind—and very much a pianist worth your attention. Strongly recommended.

Review by Peter J. Rabinowitz, FANFARE Magazine