Daniil Trifonov, Wigmore Hall

You would be forgiven for casting an envious eye on the career of Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov. At the cusp of his mid-twenties, he is already one of the most exciting pianists around. Since 2011, he has won the Arthur Rubinstein Competition, the Tchaikovsky Competition and the Premio Abbiati Award for best musician. He has begun to create a library of recordings that range from Chopin to Shostakovich. So esteemed a pianist as Martha Argerich has praised his mixture of tenderness and emotion, compounded by a staggering technical majesty. For the final flourish of his Wigmore Hall residency, Trifonov will take to the stage for a recital that spans three centuries and four very different composers.
Trifonov has certainly set himself a challenge, with a programme of unerring complexity. The recital opens with Brahms’ left-handed keyboard transcription of the ultimate violin showpiece, the Chaconne from Bach’s Partita No. 2 (1717-20). Bolder and more direct than Busoni’s later two-hand version, it brings the movement’s more emotional force to the fore. By contrast, Schubert’s Piano Sonata in G major (1826) – a favourite of both Robert Schumann and Sviatoslav Richter – has a magnificent tranquility. Although its publisher rather than Schubert himself bestowed the sub-title ‘Fantasie’, it does create a fantastical musical world of its own. Trifonov will then return to Brahms with the first part of the Variations on a Theme by Paganini (1863), a work whose diabolical complexity has defeated many a pianist. After an interval, Trifinov will conclude the concert with Rachmaninov’s relatively underplayed Piano Sonata No. 1 (1908). Gargantuan in scale, it bears the flurrying hallmarks of the composer’s rich style.
Priority booking for Wigmore Hall’s Summer season is now open. General booking opens on 5 February.