After Daniil Trifonov’s exceptional recording of the Liszt studies last year, the bulk of this Chopin collection comes as a major disappointment. It’s centred on the two piano concertos, for which Trifonov is partnered by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra; the conductor is Mikhail Pletnev, and it’s very much his influence that pervades both the performances. The concertos are performed in Pletnev’s own re-orchestrations – intended, it’s claimed, “to allow more faithful interaction between soloist and orchestra”. But that textural thinning proves much less significant than the plodding, disengaged tempi that he sets, for which even the sparkling clarity of Trifonov’s playing can’t really compensate.
Around the concertos, Trifonov places other early Chopin – a truly exceptional account of the Variations on Là ci darem la Mano, and the Rondo for two pianos with his former teacher Sergei Babayan – as well as later pieces composed in homage. There’s a glittering set of Mompou variations, Barber’s Nocturne, a Grieg study and a Tchaikovsky miniature, all played with predictable faultless brilliance.
