Tchaikovsky’s Grand Sonata was greeted with acclaim when it was premiered, but rather sadly has fallen into gentle obscurity since. It’s not very hard to see why, actually. Tchaikovsky was never a really pianistic composer, and unless this Sonata is handled very carefully it can end up sounding (as someone has put it) “a bit shouty”, like something that wanted to be a concerto but had to make do without the orchestra: lots of virtuosic flurries and blockily dramatic gestures in search of a sparring partner.
It’s a pity, because the sonata is stuffed with truly beautiful ideas, and Moog is one of the few pianists with a touch lively and supple enough to make them shine. This is no mean feat: even a pianist as great as Richter never managed to pull it off. In the first movement Moog plays with steadiness and lots of rhythmic verve, and gives the second theme a flexibility that’s surprising and very effective. The apparently literal approach he takes with the second movement underlines its starkly dolorous character, and is full of subtle inflections that are fully realised as the movement in its later sections wends through increasingly complex tributaries of colour. The microscopic scherzo is deliciously scurrying, with its cross-rhythms and teasing counterpoints animated to perfection, and the finale, its tutti chords and rapid runs played at fingerbreaking speed, is a sort of giddy celebration of pianistic possibility: the range of timbres generated really does call into mind a full-fledged orchestra.
00:00 – I. Moderato e risoluto
11:06 – II. Andante non troppo quasi moderato
20:36 – III. Scherzo. Allegro giocoso
23:02 – IV. Finale. Allegro vivace