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Trifonov’s Carnegie Recital

Jed Distler

Artistic Quality:

Sound Quality:

Remember when a Carnegie Hall recital debut used to be a rite of passage? Now it’s a media event, tied in with a major-label release and heightened expectations. Consider Daniil Trifonov, who not only gave his February 5, 2013 debut with Deutsche Grammophon’s recording equipment in tow, but also played repertoire sufficiently represented in the label’s catalog. If Trifonov felt any pressure, one doesn’t hear it. He’s as assured and fearless a pianist as they come, blessed with 10 of the most agile fingers on the planet. Granted, he tends to sacrifice power for sheer speed, yet his tone is consistently beautiful, abetted by a wide palette of articulations, nuances, and inner voices.

Trifonov ‘s musicianship has ripened over the past years, although he remains a work-in-progress in certain respects. The Scriabin Second Sonata’s opening movement, for example, is pretty on the surface yet small-scaled in comparison to Yuja Wang’s more firmly etched polyphony and Ivo Pogorelich’s weightier harmonic projection and overall sensuality. Trifonov zooms through the perpetual motion finale, running a few traffic lights here and there as he focuses on the right hand.

The Liszt Sonata is physically thrilling, especially in the octave department, yet also full of gaucheries like “reverse accents” (what old timers used to call sudden diminuendos for the sake of sudden diminuendos) and unsubtle kickstart sforzandos. Long crescendos can suddenly back away at the end of a phrase rather than build to their inevitable conclusion. Among DG Liszt sonatas from young pianists, I prefer Yundi’s equally assured and fluent yet better-unified version.

The Chopin Op. 28 Preludes contain marvelous moments, such as No. 1’s rocking lilt; the daring pedal effects that illuminate No. 2’s still startling dissonances; No. 5’s fanciful cross-rhythmic accentuation; a truly “semplice” and direct No. 7; a fleet and transparent No. 17; No. 8’s tenor voice more to the fore than usual (to say nothing of the breathtaking tempo and control); and an unusually slow yet intriguingly multi-leveled No. 23. Few other performances of No. 22 articulate the undulating push/pull effect between the jabbing left-hand octaves and slurred right-hand chords.

Less convincing are No. 3’s glibly rattled-off (albeit staggeringly executed) left-hand 16th-note runs, an introspective to the point of wilting No. 13, plus the pianist’s seemingly habitual pulling back at the top of No. 24’s building upward scales. Like Argerich, Trifonov telegraphs some of No. 16’s treacherous runs in the heat of the moment.

However, for unambiguously great pianism on a Golden Age level (and that goes for legends of the 2010s as much as those from the 1920s!), check out the Medtner Op. 26 No. 2 Fairy Tale encore. Trifonov’s breathtakingly supple passagework and repeated notes take wing with little aid from the sustain pedal. In short, Trifonov’s Carnegie Recital represents a solid advance over this pianist’s previous recordings, and in the main justifies his recent popularity with audiences and critics.


Recording Details:

Album Title: The Carnegie Recital
Reference Recording: Scriabin Piano Sonata No. 2: Hamelin (Hyperion), Liszt Piano Sonata: Arrau (Philips), Chopin Préludes: Moravec (Supraphon), Argerich (DG)

Alexander Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in G-sharp minor Op. 19
Franz Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor
Frédéric Chopin: Préludes Op. 28
Nikolai Medtner: Fairy Take in E-flat major Op. 26 No. 2

    Soloists: Daniil Trifonov (piano)

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