Destination Rachmaninov: Arrival Daniil Trifonov, The Philadelphia Orchestra & Yannick Nézet-Séguin

• Sergey Vasil'yevich Rachmaninov (1873 - 1943): The Bells, Op. 35:
• 1 1. Allegro ma non tanto (The Silver Sleigh Bells) (Arr. Trifonov for Piano) (Live at Philharmonie, Berlin / 2019) 06:56
• Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 1:
• 2 1. Vivace 13:08
• 3 2. Andante 07:20
• 4 3. Allegro vivace 07:47
• Sergey Vasil'yevich Rachmaninov:
• 5 Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14 (Arr. Trifonov for Piano) 03:34
• Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30:
• 6 1. Allegro ma non tanto (Live at Verizon Hall, Philadelphia / 2018) 17:26
• 7 2. Intermezzo (Adagio) (Live at Verizon Hall, Philadelphia / 2018) 11:19
• 8 3. Finale (Alla breve) (Live at Verizon Hall, Philadelphia / 2018) 14:25
• Total Runtime 01:21:55

Info for Destination Rachmaninov: Arrival

“During the pianist’s solo passages, Nézet-Séguin, the most balletic of conductors, simply stood there, his baton lowered. With a look of awe and wonder on his face, his flicker of a smile seemed to say, ‘Daniil, you are the man!’”

Destination Rachmaninov · Arrival captures a master pianist at work. The album, set for international release in October 2019, unites the acclaimed Russian-born artist’s account of Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto, one of the most difficult and demanding in the repertoire, with his searing interpretation of the composer’s First Piano Concerto. It also includes Trifonov’s solo piano transcription of Rachmaninov’s “The Silver Sleigh Bells” and his arrangement of the evergreen Vocalise. Eighty years ago, Rachmaninov himself created benchmark recordings of these two concertos with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Now both works occupy the heart of Trifonov’s latest Deutsche Grammophon release, the second in his series of the composer’s piano concertos with the Philadelphia Orchestra and its Music Director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Reflections on the musician’s itinerant life and the historic forces that have uprooted countless creative artists run through the Rachmaninov journey undertaken by Daniil Trifonov. His two-disc Destination Rachmaninov project, he explains, bridges the gap in time and space between Rachmaninov’s early years in late Tsarist Russia and his life in exile after the Russian Revolution.

“The Third Piano Concerto is a unique example of one unending melody,” Trifonov observes, “one continuous flow of musical consciousness – a single, rhapsodic journey. Above all, there is nothing banal in the expression. Even in its heights of lyricism or virtuosity, every note is devoted to a higher purpose.” That purpose, Trifonov suggests, involves nothing less than what he calls “a spiritual probing of the mysteries of the soul”.

It takes a performer in total command of the Third Piano Concerto’s mighty technical challenges to penetrate deep beneath its surface. Daniil Trifonov’s interpretation treats virtuosity not as an end in itself but as the means to propel a fearless spiritual adventure. The work, the pianist concludes, “has a unique kind of emotion – a solemn intimacy. It is like a prayer – the composer’s inner conversation with himself, and with God.”

Trifonov draws further comparisons with prayer when he talks of Rachmaninov’s Vocalise. The piece, written in 1912 as a wordless song for high voice and piano, proved so popular that it was soon arranged by the composer for soprano and orchestra. Countless other arrangements have followed since for everything from jazz ensemble to solo theremin. “It’s so pure and sincere, and there’s a simplicity in it that is very touching,” notes Trifonov. “So it feels almost like a prayer, and there is this meditativeness that is perhaps so typical of Rachmaninov’s music.”

Rachmaninov’s First Piano Concerto is an early work completed soon after the composer’s graduation from the Moscow Conservatory in 1891. The score, Trifonov says, is the work of someone who had yet to experience tragedy. Its generous, open-hearted spirit survived the revisions Rachmaninov made in November 1917 during the turbulent early days of the Russian Revolution and served as a reminder of youthful optimism throughout his life. “It connected him with memories of home, his roots – of happier times.”

Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra have accompanied Daniil Trifonov throughout his journey with Rachmaninov. “From the first moment we worked together on Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini,” the pianist recalls, “I realised how much respect these musicians have for Rachmaninov’s music and how much knowledge they have of his idiom. To me, it was a great idea to record all his concerti with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick for Deutsche Grammophon.” Nézet-Séguin underlines the point: “There’s something in the air. It’s difficult to explain, but the Philadelphia players are blessed with a mixture of tradition, pride, understanding and value.”

Destination Rachmaninov · Arrival will be released on 11 October 2019. He will perform Rachmaninov at London’s Royal Festival Hall (22 March 2020), Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie (25 March), the Berlin Philharmonie (26 March) and the Konzerthaus in Vienna (28 March). The pianist returns to Europe soon after as soloist in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major K 503 with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and Jaap van Zweden. Their tour opens at the Barbican Centre in London on 30 April and unfolds over the following two weeks with concerts in Cologne, Luxembourg, Lyon, Stockholm, Berlin and Dresden.

Daniil Trifonov, piano
Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Nezet-Seguin, conductor

Daniil Trifonov
Moments before Daniil Trifonov performs, profound silence invariably takes possession of his audience. Its intensity depends not on concert hall convention; rather, it arises naturally from the Russian pianist’s power to transcend the mundane and communicate music’s timeless capacity to bind communities together. Out of that silence comes a rare kind of music-making. “What he does with his hands is technically incredible,” observed one commentator shortly after Trifonov’s triumph in the final of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 2011. “It’s also his touch – he has tenderness and also the demonic element. I never heard anything like that.” That view was expressed not by a professional critic but by one of the world’s greatest pianists, Martha Argerich. She concluded that her young colleague was in possession of “everything and more”, an opinion that has since been boldly underlined in print, online and over the airwaves by a succession of previewers and reviewers. The Washington Post wrote of the “visceral experience” of hearing Trifonov’s playing; the Süddeutsche Zeitung, meanwhile, described his debut concert at last year’s Verbier Festival as “a real culture shock”, such was its blend of poetic insight, wit, nuance and inventive brilliance.

In February 2013, Deutsche Grammophon announced the signing of an exclusive recording agreement with Daniil Trifonov. His debut recital for the yellow label, recorded live at Carnegie Hall, combines Liszt’s formidable Sonata in B minor, Scriabin’s Sonata No. 2 in G-sharp Minor Op. 19, the “Sonata-Fantasy”, and Chopin’s 24 Preludes Op. 28. Future plans include concerto albums and further recital recordings. “The moment I signed to Deutsche Grammophon is, of course, perhaps the most significant event in my life to date,” he recalls. “It’s the greatest honour to record my first CD for the label, especially in such a great hall as Carnegie Hall.”

Since winning the Tchaikovsky Competition, Trifonov has travelled the world as recitalist and concerto soloist. His list of credits include debut recitals at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie, London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, Tokyo’s Opera City, the Zurich Tonhalle and a host of other leading venues. He has also appeared with the Vienna Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Mariinsky Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra. Forthcoming debuts include concerto performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony and the Moscow Philharmonic.

For all the demands of his busy performance schedule, Trifonov still finds time to study with Sergei Babayan and take composition lessons at the Cleveland Institute of Music. “I’m looking forward to future projects with Deutsche Grammophon,” he says. Exploring the vast piano literature, he adds, is the work of a lifetime. “In the coming years I hope to learn as many new pieces as possible and also leave time for composition, as composing partly influences piano playing.”

Daniil Trifonov was born in Nizhny Novgorod on 5 March 1991. The old system of Soviet communism and the once mighty Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had been dissolved by the time Daniil’s parents, both of them professional musicians, celebrated their son’s first birthday. For all the social and economic upheavals of the time, the Trifonovs recognised their son’s prodigious musical talents and supported his formal training. “I started playing piano when I was five and was also composing and always playing some concerts,” Daniil recalls. He gave his first performance with orchestra at the age of eight, an occasion etched in the soloist’s memory by the loss of one of his baby teeth midway through the concert. “It was quite an experience! But the first understanding of how important piano playing is for me came when I broke my left arm at the age of 13. I was going to a piano lesson. It was winter and very slippery, so I fell down and broke my arm and could not play normally for more than three weeks.”

Physical injury focused young Daniil’s mind on what making music meant to him. It also heightened his emotional connection to the piano and its repertoire. Scriabin’s impassioned music – mystical, transcendent and technically demanding – became a near-obsession of Trifonov’s early teens. The composer’s harmonic language and vibrant tone colours touched the aspiring performer’s soul and inspired him to enter Moscow’s Fourth International Scriabin Competition, where the 17-year-old secured fifth prize. Inspiration also flowed from Trifonov’s study of historic recordings of great pianists, which he borrowed from his teacher Tatiana Zelikman at Moscow’s famous Gnessin School of Music. “When I was studying with Tatiana Zelikman in Moscow she had a great collection of old recordings and a lot of LPs, so I was fed by those recordings.” Trifonov absorbed lasting lessons from the recorded legacy of Rachmaninov, Cortot, Horowitz, Friedman, Sofronitsky and other representatives of a golden age of pianism. “Among pianists who inspire me nowadays are Martha Argerich, Grigory Sokolov and Radu Lupu,” he adds.

Daniil Trifonov himself became an inspiration in the summer of 2011. He began by winning the 13th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel-Aviv before returning home to secure first prize, the Gold Medal, and Grand Prix at the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition. Trifonov also won the Audience Award and the Award for the best performance of a Mozart concerto. His work was already known to influential critics and concert promoters thanks to his appearance a year earlier at the prestigious International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. The media’s broad and deep response to his Moscow victory guaranteed that the whole world knew about the 20-year-old Russian. “Mr Trifonov has scintillating technique and a virtuosic flair,” noted the New York Times. “He is also a thoughtful artist . . . [who] can play with soft-spoken delicacy, not what you associate with competition conquerors.” At the beginning of 2012, cultural commentator Norman Lebrecht heralded the young man’s meteoric progress and neatly described him as “A pianist for the rest of our lives”

Booklet for Destination Rachmaninov: Arrival