...Beethoven's Andante Favori in F-major and three pieces of Schubert in the first part. The Beethoven is certainly nothing to lose too many words about. Its key, however, served as an extremely suitable bridge to Schubert's Moment Musical in f-minor. Shukov likes it very much to structure his program to a comprehensive combination. The B-flat major Impromptu - the so-called Rosamunde variations - becomes the stage for his fabulous technique.

All this gave testimony of his highly cultured touch and outstanding lack of vanity. But then in Schubert's Sonata in a-minor (D 784) incredible things happened: Shukov took the first movement very slowly, lost in thoughts, heavy, sinister. Even the side theme was approached in the same manner. The dotted sequences of chords is a relentless revolution. After the double bar Schubert starts off with the middle part very civilized. Nevertheless he distrusts the general nature of a sonata or he knows that its terrifying material cannot be fitted into this frame. Even the short 'Andante' developed as a disconcerting picture of despair. The final movement eventually touched bizarre, even futuristic fantasies first; but then contrasting diminished chords broke up all linking threads. Shukov worked this out up to a Liszt-like escalation - Franz Schubert's distress cannot be depicted in a more shattering way.