Keyboard masters Trifonov and Schiff show their genius on two new albums

Two pianists from different generations at the top of their respective trees have released new albums which are wildly different but equally authoritative and enjoyable.

Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov.

• Chopin and Mozart to die for
• Cheers for the big brass
• Gods behaving badly
• Resurrected just in time

Two pianists from different generations who are at the top of their respective trees have released new albums which are wildly different but equally authoritative and enjoyable.

At 30, Daniil Trifonov has dazzled and amazed audiences and fellow musicians alike with his technical brilliance and poetic musicality. Piano doyenne Martha Argerich said: “What he does with his hands is technically incredible. It’s also his touch — he has tenderness and also the demonic element. I never heard anything like that.”

His new double album on the Deutsche Grammophon label covers Russia’s so-called “Silver Age”, the two decades before and after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, featuring works by Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Scriabin.

On the ECM label 67-year-old British-Hungarian maestro Sir Andras Schiff performs those twin warhorses from the German Romantic canon, Brahms’ piano concertos, directing the Orchestra of the Enlightenment and playing a Bluthner instrument dating from around the time the first concerto was composed in 1858.

INSIGHTFUL

Like all historically informed performances (HIP for short) it takes a little time for the ear to adjust to the more delicate and nuanced sound of the straight-strung instrument in a world dominated by powerful Steinways and modern concert grands.

But this minor effort it worth it as these are two wonderfully insightful performances of works that were written 22 years apart.

Sir Andras Schiff has recorded both of Brahms’ piano concertos. Picture: Nadia F Romanini

Schiff says in the liner notes that his first encounter with the second concerto was when as a youth in Budapest he attended concerts by Artur Rubinstein and Annie Fischer. It wasn’t until he was 17 that he was “allowed” to tackle the first concerto, and he waited until he was 40 before he attempted the mighty Op 83, a work of prodigious challenges technically, mentally and physically.

On this lovely album Schiff makes both works sound just right under his fingers, and the orchestra of course is one of the finest in the world and a perfect complement to the addictive sound of the Bluthner.

CRACKLE

Trifonov’s double album also features a superb collaboration, this time with charismatic conductor Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, for a sweeping and powerful performance of Prokofiev’s second piano concerto and Scriabin’s lesser known 1896 piano concerto – his first work for orchestra and the only concerto he composed. This latter work is a real discovery for this reviewer – it owes much to Scriabin’s hero Chopin in places with more than a nod to the melodic Romanticism of Wagner and Liszt.

Album artwork for Daniil Trifonov's 2021 release Silver Age.

Album artwork for Andras Schiff's 2021 release Brahms' Piano Concertos.

The Stravinsky works provide the fire and crackle in this collection – solo piano versions of two of his most-loved orchestral showstoppers The Firebird and Petrushka show Trifonov at his virtuosic heights, while the neoclassical Serenade provides a neat contrast to the Prokofiev solo works that follow – the well named Sarcasms and the nostalgic, autumnal Piano Sonata No 8.

Trifonov is a composer as well as the finest pianist of his generation and his insights, so evident in the way he interprets these great 20th century works, also provides some fascinating reading in the generous liner notes accompanying this double disc.

You can get it at classicsdirect.com.au for $24.95; the Schiff Brahms disc is released on June 4 and you can pre-order it at classicsdirect.com.au for $29.95.