Firma Melodiya presents concert recordings of J.S. Bach's compositions performed by Grigory Sokolov, arguably the most intellectual of all modern Russian pianists. At the age of 16, he became a winner of the 3rd International Tchaikovsky Competition and has been an active concert performer for more than forty years. There are just few musicians now who are described as "He lives for the sake of music. Only music". Sokolov's biography is not rich in external events as he is not a public figure. However, those who have heard him in concert or on records will never be able to forget his play. Sokolov prefers deeply considered "music of mind" to virtuosic lustre. He is mostly known as an interpreter of Bach's works, late Beethoven and Brahms. "He is often compared with Gould. But Sokolov has a Bach of his own. He is more of a philosopher", a critic wrote about his performance in the Literaturnaya Gazeta. But unlike the Canadian intellectual genius of pianism, Sokolov has preferred concerts to recordings. "The biggest gap is the one between the microphone and a man", the musician believes. The Goldberg Variations, Bach's most complicated cycle from the performing point of view, was recorded by Grigory Sokolov in concert in 1982. The album also includes Partita in C minor and English Suite in A minor recorded in various years.

Three years after his last recording, Grigory Sokolov returns with a double album of live recordings from his triumphant European 2019-20 tour. Focusing on the early (Piano Sonata No. 3) and late Beethoven sonatas (Piano Sonatas Nos. 27 & 32) as well as Brahms's autumnal piano pieces opp. 118 & 119, this is a showcase of the Russian pianist's "stunning technique" (The Telegraph).

The art of the 20th century legendary pianists lives on in this century in the creative work of Grigory Sokolov, “the greatest pianist of modern times,” “the world's pianist No. 1,” “a genius” as the contemporaries name him. Sokolov's name ranks with the names of the great musicians of the past – Vladimir Horowitz, Sviatoslav Richter and Glenn Gould. The pianist gives quite a number of concerts annually in different cities of Europe, including a traditional klavierabend in his native St. Petersburg. Grigory Sokolov finished the special music school of the Leningrad Conservatory under Liya Zelikhman, and in 1973 he graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory under Moisey Khalfin. Later on, Sokolov became a professor of the St. Petersburg Conservatory where he taught for a long time. As early as at the age of twelve, Sokolov gave his first solo concert, and at 16 he received the first prize of the 3rd International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1966. That victory signified the beginning of Sokolov's career.