Throughout, one can grasp the range of psychological and emotional layers in scores by a composer second only to Shostakovich in his love of irony.
The Sixth Sonata's Allegro moderato might be concealing a clutch of resistance marches, between stalwart fanfares.
The subsequent Allegretto takes us to the ballet, although the lightness here is anything but carefree after the issues raised by the first movement. Kozhukhin gives you the impression that the keys are scalding hot.
After catching all the nuances of the third movement's waltz, the closing Vivace might be drawing a character too sinister by far for the score of Cinderella that was occupying Prokofiev at the time.
The late Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter, who premiered the Seventh Sonata in 1943, wrote eloquently on the Eighth. For him it was like listening to the inexorable march of time; it may have been somewhat heavy to grasp, but that heaviness was like a tree laden with fruit.
Kozhukhin harvests this score to perfection. The ambling sweetness of the opening Andante dolce floats with just the right balance of courage and caution.
The Andante sognando - another of Prokofiev's expressive directions - is the very heart of the piece. Halfway between minuet and waltz, in the hands of Kozhukhin, its graceful Viennese touches seem to suggest a yearning for better times, past and future.
