Destination Rachmaninov: Arrival

Daniil Trifonov (piano) & Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin

The first leg of the young Russian pianist’s Rachmaninov journey won the Concerto Category at this year’s BBC Music Magazine Awards, and was an Album of the Year for both The Guardian and The Times in 2018; this second stretch includes Trifonov’s own transcriptions of the Vocalise and The Silver Sleigh Bells from the large-scale choral work The Bells as well as Concertos Nos. 1 and 3.James Ehnes (violin)

After the highly acclaimed album “Destination Rachmaninov – Departure” Daniil Trifonov concludes his Rachmaninov project with a coupling of the composer’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 3. Including Trifonov’s own transcriptions of Rachmaninov’s famous, beloved, heart-rending “Vocalise” and virtuosic “The Silver Sleigh Bells” The Grammy and Gramophone winning pianist follows in the composer’s footsteps to record with the Philadelphia Orchestra, again conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Rachmaninov:
 Piano Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor, Op. 1
 Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30
 The Silver Sleigh Bells (from The Bells, Op. 35 1st Movement)
 Vocalise, Op. 34 No. 14

"In the First, he steers the music’s dramatic ebb and flow with total conviction, while also bringing tremendous clarity of fingerwork to its elaborate piano writing. Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra are superbly attentive partners…In the Third Trifonov makes light work of the hugely challenging piano part, again driving a clear structural path through the work’s expansive and occasionally discursive design."
BBC Music Magazine - Christmas 2019 *****

"His performance of the First Concerto, audaciously slow in the central Andante, is less urgently committed than expected, particularly when compared with his 2018 album of the Second and Fourth Concertos. As is now customary, Trifonov chooses the fuller cadenza in No 3, where with muscles bulging and rippling he is let loose with a vengeance. His arrangement of Vocalise is over- laden, but he dazzles in his arrangement of ‘The Silver Sleigh Bells’ (part one of The Bells choral symphony Op 35) – a burst of joyous brilliance."
International Piano - January 2020