Daniil Trifonov / Klavierabend

Fantastically good

He is the master of suspense: what seems at first glance to be a random mixture of music from Mozart to Scriabin turns out on closer inspection to be a very clever compilation. And that is typical of Daniil Trifonov: he walks modestly, almost shyly, on to the concert platform, only to unleash an elemental creative force at the keyboard that is without compare. The almost unsurpassable virtuosity of his playing is always entirely in the service of the music, regardless of whether he is playing the delicate tunes of Tchaikovsky’s »Children’s Album« or is summoning up a grotesque spirit world in Ravel’s menacing »Gaspard de la nuit«. The playful and the fantastic form the centre of his recital programme, and around them the Russian pianist, who now lives in New York, revolves with supreme mastery.