Rachmaninov / Trifonov: Rachmaninov Variations, Daniil Trifonov, piano

Daniil Trifonov is one of the most interesting and talented young pianists around today. In Martha Argerich’s words, “What he does with his hands is technically incredible. And then there is his touch, so gifted with tenderness and, at the same time, he has the demonic element. I have never heard anything like this before.”

Christopher Nupen’s new DVD about Trifonov shows his relationship with music as a journey of discovery that he wishes to share with his audience, evident in his recent Edinburgh Festival concert with baritone Matthias Goerne, where he seemed to approach the piano scores with a fresh ear. It is apposite that on his new disc of Rachmaninov variations he teams up with a conductor who possesses the same questing spirit of discovery, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, with electrifying results.

Their performance of Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is vibrant, full of pianistic and orchestral colour, by turn galvanised (variations 9 and 10) then languorous (track 12), tempi fluid then strict. Pianist and conductor bring out all the nostalgic sweetness of the Andante Cantabile variation 18, and a deftness and growing sense of drive to the succeeding variations, all the while maintaining a sense of the work’s lyricism. “I think of the Rhapsody,” says Trifonov, “as a miniature ballet, a dance with Fate over Paganini’s soul.”

The remainder of the disc is devoted to solo piano works. In the rarely-heard Variations on a Theme of Chopin, a cycle of quasi-improvisational elaborations on Chopin’s Prelude No. 20 in C minor, Trifonov projects Chopin’s elegance and Rachmaninov’s passion in equal measure. (You can see him playing this work on Nupen’s DVD, as Trifonov points out, it is probably the first time the work has appeared on film.)

Trifonov is also a composer; he started to play the piano at the age of five only to aid him in his composing. His eleven-minute suite Rachmaniana is an unashamedly Romantic homage to Rachmaninov, triggered by feelings of homesickness shortly after he arrived to study in Cleveland at the age of eighteen. The well-filled disc closes with Rachmaninov’s Variations on a Theme of Corelli, based on the La Folia theme and providing a good contrast with the preceding works.

Trifonov’s understanding of the structure of all the works featured here makes listening to this disc a rewarding experience. One can only marvel yet again at his musical intelligence and the majestic passion and stunning delicacy of his playing.