Carnegie Hall: Daniil Trifonov Performs Bach, Beethoven and Liszt

On Tuesday evening, pianist Daniil Trifonov gave a splendid recital at Carnegie Hall in which he performed works by Bach, Beethoven and Liszt.  It was the first time I'd had an opportunity to hear this young musician and I was deeply impressed.

The program opened with Bach's Fantasy and Fugue for Organ in G Minor, BWV 542 (trans. for piano by Franz Liszt, S. 463).  Though Liszt specialized in the art of transcription, it was usually symphonic or operatic works that he most often paraphrased.  In this work, he undertook the adaptation of a work by J.S. Bach who was himself one of the greatest composers for keyboard.  The result can be seen as much a dialog between two geniuses as it is a transcription.  The respect in which Liszt held Bach, whose reputation had in the nineteenth century largely fallen into obscurity, is evident in every note.  The work is much more restrained than many of Liszt's other transcriptions, and the composer was careful never to let his mastery of the piano intrude on his appreciation of Bach's genius.  It was an excellent work with which to open the recital.  While paying homage to the Baroque, it also anticipated the performance of Liszt's own compositions in the second half of the program.

This was followed by Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111 (1821-1822).  The work is famous as the last of the composer's final three piano sonatas and is unusual in that it consists of only two movements.  Originally, Beethoven planned a more traditional piece consisting of three movements, but in the end retained only one of his original sketches (placed here as the first movement).  The new second movement, the magnificent arietta, could have easily been seen as the master's final word on writing music for piano if he had not then gone on to compose the Diabelli Variations in 1823.  As one might imagine, the sonata is a favorite at recitals where pianists wish to demonstrate their mastery of the instrument.  Many years ago, I heard Rudolf Serkin perform it, together with the Opus 109 and 110, at his final recital at Carnegie Hall.  Last season, I heard an excellent performance by Seymour Lipkin at his Paul Hall recital.  The performance by Trifonov, however, was something special.  He brought out a feeling in the music I had never before heard there.  At times, his playing seemed to have an element of jazz technique in its approach to the finale of the second movement.  There was a liveliness here and a refusal to be overawed by the composer's iconic reputation that so often causes his work to be placed on a pedestal and treated as a relic.

After intermission, the program concluded with Liszt's Transcendental Études, S. 139 (1852).  Excellent as the first half was, this was where Trifonov really let go and showed his full genius at the keyboard.  This was an extremely long work consisting of twelve separate pieces and was a diabolical test of the virtuosity of any musician.  Amazingly, the Études are actually simplifications of an earlier set composed in 1837.  One can only imagine how formidable Liszt's technique must have been if he could master pieces even more difficult than those presented here.  As it was, Trifonov held the audience spellbound for over an hour as he performed the entire set from memory.

There was only one encore.  I did not recognize the piece myself, but according to Carnegie Hall's website it was "Alla Reminiscenza" from Forgotten Melodies I, Op. 38 by the Russian composer/ pianist Nikolai Medtner.