Thursday night’s program opened with Dvořák’s Symphony No 2 (1865, revised 1887), a work that received only one performance during the composer’s lifetime. Indeed this was the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s first performance of this little-played work. At fifty+ minutes in length, it would normally sit more comfortably in the second half of a concert program.
Symphony No. 2 is expansive work, replete with the joyous, genial optimism that one might expect from a twenty-four-year-old composer, still very much under the influence of his compositional models, yet one bursting with youthful confidence. Each of the movements is substantial in length and conductor Jaime Martín led the MSO in what was a persuasive, tautly-paced reading of a work that can all-too easily meander. Much of the work has a bucolic, pastoral quality, overflowing with gentle lyricism and Martín brought a masterful balancing of orchestral textures to the reading, one that allowed melodic strands to emerge effortlessly and in a suitably unforced manner. This was assisted by the deftly managed, euphonious blending of the string section – in superlative form – as well as of the woodwind and brass choirs. The cello section stood out on this occasion, their placement where the violas would normally sit, allowing their expansive melodic lines to resonate throughout Hamer Hall with ease.
One senses that a large segment of the near-capacity audience tonight came to hear Russian pianist, Daniil Trifonov perform Rachmaninov’s colossal Piano Concerto No. 3 after interval. Trifonov is a genuine global star and rightly deserves his place in the pantheon of the world’s greatest pianists. After appearances in Sydney with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performing Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 4, as well as a joint recital performing Schubert’s Winterreise with German baritone Matthias Goerne, Trifonov is now in Melbourne to perform Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, having already performed Winterreise on Tuesday night to a packed Elisabeth Murdoch Hall. No doubt many in the audience tonight also witnessed the Russian pianist’s astonishingly nuanced and sympathetic collaborative pianism at the Melbourne Recital Centre two nights ago. You can read Stewart Kelly’s review elsewhere on the Classic Melbourne website.
After a let’s-get-down-to-business, no-nonsense entry on to the Hamer Hall stage, and following the orchestra’s short, understated two-bar invitation, Trifonov entered surreptitiously with the piano’s beguilingly simple, unadorned melody, giving little hint of musical odyssey that was to follow – for this is a towering, monumental work, one whose virtuosity tests the mettle and endurance of the most seasoned soloists. Trifonov’s manner of playing is, in general, an undemonstrative one, with few hints of the gestural histrionics of so many other pianists. His eyes are almost exclusively focused on the keyboard, or, when not playing himself, quietly looking straight ahead, engaging intently with the orchestra through listening rather than visually. It seemed as though he looked at conductor Martín for the first time only during the accelerando right at the very end of the first movement coda. The performance overall, however, was no less taut of ensemble because of it – Martín and Trifonov working together hand in glove, as if seasoned collaborators. Trifonov’s performance of this epic concerto was a thoroughly engrossing one, a roller-coaster of emotions, fuelled by white heat energy, ardent lyricism, and unrelenting concentration. It is surely one of the highlights of the 2025 concert season and fully deserved the tutti standing ovation at the conclusion of the barn-storming finale.
Highlights included the glorious pacing of the first movement cadenza – broader than one usually hears, but all the better for its inexorable path towards the fff climax. The second movement’s central waltz, notable for Trifonov’s diaphanous leggiero touch, featured skittish rhythmic interplay between piano and orchestra, coloured by Trifonov’s delicately enunciated, imitative and almost pointillistic, melodic lines. The gripping transition to the finale set the scene for Trifonov’s lightening-fast reading of the third movement. Here the pianist often, and necessarily, given the vastness of Hamer Hall and Rachmaninov’s thick orchestral textures, pushed the Steinway D to its upper tonal limits. But this was virtuosity of the highest order, and Trifonov’s stellar pianism shone through just as much through his great delicacy of touch – witness the spine-tingling lightness of the sole upper-register glissando early-on, as well as the gossamer-like filigree, and gloriously rich-toned, ruminative chords leading into the reprise of the movement’s opening theme. Sheer magic. This was a performance that will linger long in the memories of those lucky enough to secure tickets.
The concert will be repeated in full on Saturday afternoon at 2pm as well as Monday night, 6:30pm, (minus the symphony), and many of tonight’s audience have already secured tickets to hear Trifonov a second time. I believe Trifonov’s last visit to Australia was in 2017, when he gave a sold-out solo recital at the MRC with a memorable Petrushka, as well as performing Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 1 in F# minor with the MSO. It is to be hoped we don’t need to wait another 8 years before this deeply thoughtful musician returns to our shores. Rach 2 perhaps?
Photo supplied.
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Glenn Riddle reviewed “Daniil Trifonov plays Rachmaninov”, presented by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall on April 3, 2025.
