With his dexterous right hand technique, Valeriy Sokolov’s moves from one note to the next in an exceptionally beautiful legato. His style matches well with the precise touch of David Fray, whose subtle playing makes the musical colors and textures blossom off the page. This is a Beethoven whose formal rigor, lyricism, light-dark contrasts, and humor are perfectly balanced with deep emotion.

The recital ends with Bach’s Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord No.4 in C minor, BWV 1017. The intense lyricism of the “Sicilienne”, the slow movement, curiously echoes the writing of sonata which preceded it… perhaps we are closer than one often thinks to the pre-Romantic writing of Beethoven.