Daniil Trifonov BACH The Art of Life

 

THE ART OF LIFE

 

Daniil Trifonov SILVER AGE

 

SILVER AGE

 

Daniil Trifonov / The Philadelphia Orchestra / Yannick Nézet-Séguin DESTINATION RACHMANINOV - ARRIVAL

After the highly acclaimed album “Destination Rachmaninov: Departure” Daniil Trifonov concludes his Rachmaninov project with a coupling of the composer’s Piano Concertos nos. 1 & 3.

Including Trifonov’s own transcriptions of Rachmaninov’s famous, beloved, heart-rending “Vocalise” and virtuosic “The Silver Sleigh Bells”.

The Grammy and Gramophone winning pianist follows in the composer’s footsteps to record with the Philadelphia Orchestra, again conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
booklet 

Daniil Trifonov, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin DESTINATION RACHMANINOV - DEPARTURE

Amid the excitement over a rediscovered rehearsal tape of the composer playing Symphonic Dances, there arrives a new account of two concertos with Rachmaninov’s favourite orchestra and the living pianist who most resembles him. Deutsche Grammophon has titled the album Destination Rachmaninov. Departure and furnished the cover with a portrait of the soloist, Daniil Trifonov, sitting in the kind of railway compartment that went out with shellac records. Do not be distracted by these marketing tricks.

Trifonov opens with C minor concerto with quiet authority, each chord darker than the one before, Rachmaninov at his most morose. If this concerto had a physical colour it would be brown, streaked with alabaster flashes of erotic fantasy. Trifonov paints brown deeper than any pianist of the present generation, or the last. He inhabits Rachmaninov’s peculiar mindset, rooted in Russia yet drawn to the West, deeply pessimistic yet abnormally energetic, introspective yet showman-like. The finale of the second concerto comes as close to the source as any recording I know.

The fourth concerto, always problematic, is propelled at speed by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and played by the Philadelphia Orchestra with something of the burnish that so captivated the composer. The Three Blind Mice central movement, often made to sound simplistic, acquires an edge of menace. The finale is pure helter-skelter. Between the two concertos, Trifonov plays Bach transcriptions, just as Rachmaninov might have done. This recording stands with the greats. (Norman Lebrecht)

VERBIER FESTIVAL 25 Years of Excellence

This limited 4-CD edition of previously unreleased live recordings from the Verbier Festival celebrates the festival’s 25th anniversary.
Featuring admired DG artists as Martha Argerich, Yevgeny Kissin, Mikhail Pletnev, Bryn Terfel, Daniil Trifonov, Yuja Wang and conductors Valery Gergiev, Gustavo Dudamel, Kent Nagano and Kurt Masur in performances of both core classics and lesser-known works from the orchestral, concert, chamber and operatic repertoires.
Since 1994 the Verbier Festival has transformed a small Swiss Alpine resort into a unique hothouse for musicians to explore new repertoire and new partnerships, always with revelatory results. Founder Martin T:son Engström’s ambitious idea to create a summer festival in the Swiss Alps with a resident youth orchestra and an academy has for 25 years encouraged musical excellence and created a platform for young musicians to learn from the world’s finest artists, as well as offering audiences a dynamic, music-centered experience. A quarter century after the first festival, Verbier’s magic continues unabated and surely will do for years to come.

“I’ve been coming to Verbier since I was 21 and it was there that all these fantastic musicians who lived in my head became real. Verbier is so magical for me – it always feels like coming home, or a fun vacation with my closest friends.” Yuja Wang

Anne-Sophie Mutter / Daniil Trifonov FRANZ SCHUBERT Trout Quintet

Mutter and Trifonov were drawn together by a strong artistic attraction. “It was a spontaneous idea to work together,” the violinist recalls. “But I was stalking Daniil for several years,” she adds with a laugh. Mutter found time earlier this year to follow the Russian pianist’s Rachmaninov concerto cycle with the Munich Philharmonic and Valery Gergiev. “I was also in Moscow when he won the Tchaikovsky Competition in 2011 and heard him play in the prize winners’ concert there.”

Anne-Sophie Mutter’s long-established recital partnership with Lambert Orkis is set to continue, yet she notes how she has often performed chamber music with other pianists, Alexis Weissenberg, André Previn and Yefim Bronfman among them. The opportunity to make her first recording of the “Trout” Quintet with Daniil Trifonov, she says, was too good to miss; the pianist, likewise, embraced the project with wholehearted enthusiasm. He sees Schubert, one of the great Classical composers, as an inventor of the purest melodies and a master of formal structure.

“The sincerity of his musical expression captivates audiences and performers alike,” notes Trifonov. “When I first learned that Anne-Sophie wanted to record this music, I was incredibly happy. I’ve only recorded Schubert in Liszt’s transcriptions of his songs before, so it was a great joy to work on one of the composer’s greatest works with four fantastic colleagues. The more we played together, the more possibilities opened up. Something different happened every time and that always expands your awareness of what is possible. And then you become more comfortable with an interpretation which reveals itself in the moment.”

Daniil Trifonov CHOPIN EVOCATIONS

Daniil Trifonov’s last release was an impressive and exhilarating two-disc programme of Liszt’s Studies (10/16). It was an Editor’s Choice and shortlisted for this year’s Gramophone Awards. The only prize his latest recording will win is an egg from a curate – and a fairly hard-boiled one at that. There are already commercial releases of Trifonov in both Chopin concertos (No 1 on Dux, No 2 on Medici TV) and goodness knows how many on the DG label alone, but of all the dozens of versions of Op 21 I have listened to over the years, this latest is one of the most lacklustre. Both the orchestral and piano expositions seem devoid of purpose. This, however, is not just any orchestral exposition. This is the world premiere of the re-orchestration of the concerto by Mikhail Pletnev, one of several who, over the years, have felt that young master Chopin needs a lesson in how to use the resources available to the best advantage.

Having raised an eyebrow to the clarinet (instead of strings) as the leading opening voice, the limp first movement crawls home at 15'41" (the average is between 13'00" and 13'30") with little acknowledgement of Chopin’s maestoso. This and several other moments make this performance hors de combat as a recommended recording. Listen to the horn note at 12'24" sounding like a bedside alarm clock, or the piano’s two bars of dolcissimo and legatissimo semiquavers in the slow movement (7'09") resembling the drips from a partially turned-off tap. The brillante passage after the cor de signal measures in the finale help redeem proceedings.

It is with this latter spirit that Trifonov approaches the Variations on ‘Là ci darem la mano’, a rare opportunity to hear this played as a solo and quite possibly the finest ever committed to disc. With the orchestral interludes played on the piano, it turns the piece into a kind of ‘Pictures at a Chopin Exhibition’. The way in which Trifonov executes Var 3 and the contrasting touch and dynamics he brings to the repeat is quite masterly. Some Chopin-inspired morceaux follow – inventive programming – but when you hear two of them (the Grieg and Tchaikovsky pieces) played by Jonathan Plowright on his ‘Hommage à Chopin’ disc (Hyperion, 4/10) you wonder who has the stronger affinity with this music.

On disc 2, after a tremendously vivacious account of the Rondo for two pianos with his erstwhile teacher Sergei Babayan, Trifonov is once more in thrall to Pletnev and his version of Chopin. The opening of the re-orchestrated E minor Concerto has all the energy of someone dragging themselves off the sofa after a heavy lunch. While there are passages thereafter where everything threatens to come to a standstill, things eventually pick up, just as they do in the F minor, and normal service is pretty much resumed. But then compare Trifonov’s reverential Romance (11'06", against Argerich’s 9'24" and Kissin’s 8'26"), in which every note is squeezed dry, with Josef Hofmann’s improvisatory ease and imagination (live in 1936). By and large, Pletnev’s scoring is unobtrusive and does not overly distract, though the woodwind ensemble at the opening of the finale sounds like Chopin hijacked by Tchaikovsky. One thing is constant throughout and that is the sublimely wonderful sound Trifonov produces right through the register. When allied to the clarity and evenness of his fast passagework (2'09" to 4'52" in the finale, for instance) it makes one regret even more the exaggerations and excesses heard elsewhere.

The programme ends in the more intimate world of Mompou’s Chopin Variations (the A major Prelude from Op 28), a consummate, unfussy reading, unlike the remarkably self-indulgent central section of the Fantaisie-impromptu (Op 66, not Op 6 as labelled) quoted in Mompou’s Var 10 and which concludes these evocations. (Gramophone)

Gidon Kremer / Giedre Dirvanauskaite / Daniil Trifonov PREGHIERA

The things Fritz Kreisler wrote for violin and piano are musical trifles. These little pieces, based on works by other composers, were usually intended for use as encore numbers in his own recitals. They reveal an unmistak- able fondness for Slavic melodies, as attested by his many arrangements of Dvořák. But Rachmaninov also figured high on the list of this violinist, whose tone, to quote Yehudi Menuhin, was “the sweetest of all times”. The melody of his Preghiera, a collaboration between Kreisler and Rachmaninov, was taken from the slow movement of the latter’s Second Piano Concerto. Here it functions as an introduction and curtain-raiser to the sonic universe of Rachmaninov’s two Trios élégiaques.

Gidon Kremer is celebrating his 70th birthday with a special chamber music programme together with pianist Daniil Trifonov and cellist Giedrė Dirvanauskaitė, both of whom he personally chose for this recording. It is an album full of correlations and a clear underlying conception. Neither he nor his musical confederates care about brilliant effects; their concern is always to unveil the truths and messages hidden in the music. “To me”, Kremer explains, “being an artist has always been a calling”. But, he emphasizes, “I don’t want this by any means to sound emotive, because I don’t consider myself important. The music is a source from which I draw energy. I try to convey this energy – with notes, with my repertoire, with my choice of musicians. I also try to go my own way and to find companions – interlocutors – who can help me, and with whom I can converse in the language of music”. (Bjørn Woll)

Daniil Trifonov plays FRANZ LISZT - TRANSCENDENTAL

. . . a triumph. After the opening salvo of the "Etudes d'exécution transcendante", Trifonov attacks the A minor study with tremendous ferocity, so much so that on page 4 he had me scurrying to check the score. There are the left hand's clearly marked accents against the right hand's semiquaver octaves but which I could not recall anyone illuminating quite so clearly . . . This is unquestionably one of the great recorded performances of the "Transcendental Studies". The three sets of studies on CD2 are equally compelling, with Trifonov's eye for pointing up subtle details likely to appeal to Lisztian connoisseurs -- the left hand's rhythmic support in "Gnomenreigen", for example . . . Every decent record collection should have at least one version of all four sets of these studies. It is quite a feat for a single pianist to deliver what are, in effect, top-of-the-pile performances of almost all of the 23 separate titles -- but that is what Trifonov offers. Even if you have Berman, Cziffra and Berezovsky in the "Transcendentals", and Hamelin and Graffman in the "Paganini Studies", you will want to hear Trifonov, who also has the benefit of superior recorded sound (the piano is closely but not claustrophobically captured by Marcus Herzog, with the occasional pedal thump). Trifonov's is the best kind of virtuoso playing, where one is hardly aware of the notes being played, allowing one to simply bask in the genius of Liszt's musical narrative and the transcendant execution of an awesomely gifted pianist. (Record Review / Jeremy Nicholas, Gramophone online / 07. October 2016)

Daniil Trifonov plays FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN

Following his successful 2012 release of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov tries on the more intimate role of recitalist for this live Decca album of solo piano pieces by Frédéric Chopin. Trifonov is a powerhouse in the Lisztian mold, and his incredible technique seems better suited to fast, flashy fingerwork than to more subdued music. Certain pieces, such as the Rondo in F major, Op. 5, "À la Mazur," the Étude in F major, Op. 10/8, and the Grande Valse Brillante, Op. 18, allow feats of prestidigitation, and there's no denying that he can perform with dazzling virtuosity. However, Chopin should not be played to set land speed records, and Trifonov is required to show greater variety of tempos, dynamics, and expressions in the Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante, the set of three Mazurkas, Op. 56, and above all in the Sonata No. 3 in B minor, where more is at stake emotionally and artistically. (It is perhaps of interest to note that the first four tracks were recorded in Venice, while the rest of the album was recorded in Sacile, Italy, so changes in playing style may reflect the different venues.) Trifonov is obviously more comfortable in glittering showpieces, and this CD confirms that can always entertain with his brilliance. But it is inconclusive about his capacity for emotional growth and ability to play slower and more private music with grace and depth. (Blair Sanderson)

Trifonov THE CARNEGIE RECITAL

For over 120 years, New York’s Carnegie Hall has been the site for magic moments, with a special status reserved for notable debuts, from Tchaikovsky to the Beatles. When young Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov made his main-stage Carnegie Hall recital debut before a packed house in February 2013, there was indeed a sense of electric anticipation. Winner of the 2011 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and the Arthur Rubinstein Competition in Tel Aviv the same year, Trifonov had already created a stir among connoisseurs; on the occasion of his first Carnegie recital, that anticipation gave way to the thrill, fulfillment, and delight of a full-fledged triumph.

For those in attendance that February night, there could be no other conclusion: this pianist – his boyish face and frame belying his command as a performer – was more than just another prize-winning prodigy. Blending extreme technical facility with a poetic refinement vastly beyond his years, here was a phenomenon. No less an authority than Martha Argerich has said of Trifonov: “What he does with his hands is technically incredible. It’s also his touch – he has tenderness and also the demonic element. I never heard anything like that.”

Born in Nizhniy Novgorod in 1991 and raised in a musical family, Trifonov became a devoted musician from an early age. He trained in the renowned school of Russian pianism, first at the Gnessin School of Music in Moscow with Tatiana Zelikman, then with Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music. The main programme of his Carnegie debut recital presents the quintessence of the tradition to which he is heir: Chopin’s 24 Preludes op. 28 (1839), Liszt’s Sonata in B minor (1854) and Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No. 2 “Sonata-Fantasy” (1897), a chain of Romantic works with a kindred spirit, by composers who were themselves all piano virtuosos in their own right. It is repertoire of both deep substance and sensual allure, ideally suited to an artist of finesse as well as force.

Beyond his keyboard mastery, Trifonov is also a gifted composer in his own right: there is a dynamic, almost improvised quality to his performance of the works of his Romantic predecessors. He speaks of how the richness of the Romantic piano literature means that the music can be interpreted in myriad ways, not only from performer to performer but from concert to concert by the same performer. “So much can depend on the acoustic, the piano, the audience,” he explains. “A pianist will make spontaneous decisions of character or tempo in the moment. It’s a different story every night. But the magic of Romanticism is the intensity with which the music can provoke emotions in the heart of the listener.”

One of Trifonov’s teachers at the Gnessin School owned a vast collection of historical LPs, and the young student marveled at the great example of the “titans of the piano”. Trifonov was especially taken by Horowitz and Cortot in Chopin. He says: “They were very different pianists, yes, but both had an incredible sense of time and rubato, the effortless breathing of a phrase – this was a great lesson for me.” In Scriabin, it was recordings by Horowitz, Heinrich Neuhaus, and, especially, Vladimir Sofronitsky that made an impression on him: “These pianists had such different visions of Scriabin’s colours and harmonies, with so much to say in their own way.” Among contemporary pianists, Trifonov particularly admires Radu Lupu, Grigory Sokolov, and Martha Argerich. Along with the “improvisatory atmosphere” that Horowitz was able to conjure in Liszt’s Sonata, Trifonov loves Martha Argerich’s DG recording for its “drama and intensity”.

Regarding his landmark Carnegie debut, Trifonov admits to having felt “an altered sense of reality” as he walked onto the hallowed stage of the Stern Auditorium that night; but he recalls vividly “the amazing acoustic on stage – it allows a performer to equilibrate colors, tones, shades, dynamics, character.” The instrument, too, was special. “The best pianos”, Trifonov explains, “have character but are also flexible, so they can be like a mirror that reflects the soul of a performer. The Hamburg Steinway I played here was such an instrument.” And finally, there was the notoriously demanding New York public, which, the pianist remembers with a smile, “listened with attention and enthusiasm. Even without an audience, in rehearsal Carnegie gives off such an atmosphere; but when the listeners come in, they create this excitement that gives energy – wings – to the performer.”

For those who witnessed live that Carnegie recital in February 2013, the audience’s excitement was more than just the pleasure of an exceptional concert or the partaking in a professional rite of passage; rather, the hall – carried on Trifonov’s mesmerizing wings – was charged with a palpable sense of momentousness, the unanimous recognition of a major career taking flight. The present recording documents and shares that unique occasion, when Trifonov inscribed his name in Carnegie Hall’s register of legends.