 The 1980s seem to have posed something of a stumbling-block to Sokolov's career in the U.S. "In the beginning, I played a lot of single concerts in America, in 1969, '71 and, I think, 1975.After that there was a break in relationships between the U.S. and the Soviet Union—they were disconnected by the Afghanistan war.A scheduled tour in the U.S. was cancelled in 1980.