Daniil Trifonov brings vast range and power to Cincinnati recital

Daniil Trifonov made a well-regarded debut with the Cincinnati Symphony in 2019, and on Tuesday evening Cincinnati audiences had the chance to experience an even more thorough portrait of the artist by way of a solo recital at Music Hall. Originally slated to take place this past November, the recital was pushed to the current date after the pianist suffered an elbow injury, but it more than proved to be worth the wait. The program, diverse but with common threads, played to Trifonov’s strengths and was given with the right balance of towering virtuosity and probing interpretation.

The first half was comprised of works from the first two decades of the 20th century, certainly an immensely fertile period of music history. Karol Szymanowski’s Piano Sonata no. 3 is cast in four interconnected movements. The opening was fleeting and protean, conveying a heavily perfumed impressionism. Though the constant ebb and flow was unsettling, Trifonov cut through the murkiest of textures with total control and purposeful direction. In closing with a fugue, the gravitas of Beethoven’s late sonatas was suggested. Trifonov played the fugal material with sharp clarity, hammering it out with the metallic intensity reminiscent of Prokofiev. More rhapsodic interludes contrasted the contrapuntal rigor and the closing statement bordered on the exuberant.

Rapid fire yet effortlessly seamless playing opened the Prélude to Debussy’s Pour le piano, leading to a powerful chordal section. In this short movement alone, the vast range of textures and dynamics Trifonov coaxed out of the Steinway was nothing short of astonishing. The sensual Sarabande that serves as the centerpiece was a study in fluid legato, and the chords were deftly voiced. The closing Toccata was marked by entrancing traversals across the keyboard, yet Trifonov’s virtuosity – formidable as it was – was always understated, taking a backseat to the music itself and only used in service of thoughtful interpretation. Prokofiev’s five brief Sarcasms were motoric and percussive, sometimes flaring up to sheer ferocity. But this was rightly not taken to excess, with the focus instead on revealing the thorny ironies suggested by the title, the essential character of each of these flippant, bristling miniatures.

The second half was devoted to another Third Piano Sonata, namely that of Brahms. Unlike the shorter works that preceded, this put Trifonov’s mastery of large-scale form on full display. The opening Allegro maestoso was powerful and commanding, brimming with brooding passions fit for one of the pinnacles of the Romantic piano repertoire. Trifonov sharply defined the main theme’s rhythmic gestures, and his wide dynamic range once again paid rewarding dividends. Matters erupted into volcanic passions, but a sweet secondary theme offered lovely contrast.

I can’t think of too many pieces more sumptuously gorgeous than the slow movement, and there Trifonov’s delicate control, rarely rising above piano, was sublime and made the movement’s eventual climax all the more moving. A Scherzo made for a feisty foil, a bit of lightheartedness in the midst of such a weighty work. The so-called Rückblick served as a haunting reminiscence of the earlier material, and Trifonov took the finale at a stately, measured tempo, an interpretive choice that made the chorale section all the more triumphant. Though seemingly out of character for Trifonov not to indulge the audience with a selection of encores, perhaps it would have been all but gratuitous in the footsteps of such monumental pianism.