Liszt: Die Stadt - Mässig Geschwindt (No. 1 from Schwanengesang, S560, after Schubert)

Daniil Trifonov, winner of the XIVth International Tchaikovsky Competition, is probably the world’s most exciting young pianist. On his first Mariinsky recording he joins Valery Gergiev for a scintillating performance of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No 1. Daniil also presents a selection of recital repertoire including music by Tchaikovsky, Chopin and Liszt transcriptions of Schubert and Schumann.

Written for Nikolai Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto is one of his most popular works. Revised three times, including an arrangement for two pianos, the concerto was finally set in stone in 1888 and it is this version that is most frequently performed today. Tchaikovsky balances core motivic elements with a sense of lyrical spontaneity to create a technically challenging but instantly appealing work.

At only 21 years old, Daniil Trifonov has won countless awards, including the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, the Rubinstein Competition in Tel Aviv and the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (Gold Medal). Valery Gergiev personally awarded Trifonov the ‘Grand Prix’ in Moscow, an additional award given to the best overall competitor in any category of the International Tchaikovsky Competition.

In 2011, Trifonov gave his debut with the London Symphony Orchestra and has since performed with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Mariinsky Orchestra, as well as touring throughout the USA, Europe and the Far East. In the coming season he will make debuts with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony and Chicago Symphony orchestras, as well as performing recitals at Salle Pleyel, Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall and Wigmore Hall.

In November 1822 , Schubert put the final touches to the 'Wanderer' fantasy in C major, the fruit of a commission from his exact contemporary, Emmanuel Karl von Liebenberg, a pupil of Hummel and most assuredly a seasoned pianist, to judge from the formidable difficulties with which this celebrated piece is studded. Never again did Schubert attain such virtuosity on the keyboard, and it was this virtuosity, as much as the novelty of the work's intentions, that fascinated Liszt, who seized on the fantasy, which he frequently performed in concert and transcribed for piano and orchestra.