Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty; Children's Album; Piano Sonata, Op. 80; Theme and Variations, Op. 19/6

The pianist Daniil Trifonov presents Tchaikovsky removed (more or less) from the grandeur of St Petersburg’s Imperial Theatre or the heaven-storming tragedy of his late symphonies. Here is a selection of works which show by turn the budding young composer and the mature artist vividly recalling the joys and sorrows of childhood. These two aspects of Tchaikovsky’s work not only complement each other well, but also shed revealing light on the other, as Trifonov explains to Apple Music Classical. This is true, he says, even of the relatively familiar Children’s Album, which includes pieces such as “Morning Prayer” and “Sweet Dreams” familiar to many young piano students: “it is a completely different experience to come back to them many years later and realise the philosophical aspect while playing this cycle in its entirety.” Trifonov, however, starts his album with two far lesser-known works. The “Thème original et variations” from the Op. 19 6 Pieces, composed in 1873 (the year before Tchaikovsky wrote his First Piano Concerto), is scarcely known outside Russia. But it’s a work Trifonov has known since his years as a student in Moscow: “I heard it going to the Tchaikovsky Competition and at several concerts.” And like Children’s Album, it presents excellent material for developing musicianship and technique. It starts with a theme highly characteristic of Tchaikovsky’s style—charming and a touch wistful (Trifonov playing this with gentle affection)—after which Tchaikovsky puts his pianist through their paces, whether the intricate filigree of Variation No. 2, the virtuosic staccato chords of No. 4, or simply characterising the dramatic contrasts between variations (such as Nos 8 & 9). Then follows the richly inventive Piano Sonata in C-Sharp Minor, misleadingly identified as “No. 2” but in fact predating the mature Sonata No. 1 in G Major (1878) by 13 years. Trifonov describes this as “a very fascinating piece—it was written during his studies at the St Petersburg Conservatory, and shows Tchaikovsky experimenting a lot with his musical language. It’s also quite an ambitious work pianistically. What surprised me most when learning it is its pianistic complexity, indicating that perhaps Tchaikovsky was at that point thinking of becoming a concert performer.” Quite possibly, though this is perhaps Trifonov being modest about what he makes of Tchaikovsky’s piano writing in this apprentice work, which so often can appear heavy-handed with other pianists. His sensitive touch brings out the richness of the bass heavy chords which open the Sonata, and he makes the contrasting second theme shimmer entrancingly. Then he beguiles with the harp-like textures which open the second movement “Andante”, later contrasting the sonorous central statement with its soft and enchanted final chords. The Sonata’s third movement “Scherzo” will be familiar to those who know the equivalent in Tchaikovsky’s First Symphony, and here Trifonov makes the piano version equal to its orchestral guise both in its lightness of touch and its moments of boldness. Part of the point, Trifonov tells Apple Music Classical, is that these solo piano works bring into sharp focus a side of Tchaikovsky’s “voice” that is easily overlooked in his larger-scale works: “The personal side of Tchaikovsky is very much present even in his larger works such as operas, symphonies and ballets. It is in fact one of the aspects that makes his music instantly recognisable. It is even more amplified in works written for a more select number of performers such as voice and piano, or piano solo. “The Sonata in itself is already an original and vibrant statement of the young composer,” continues Trifonov. “The seeds of this piece found second life in his future works such as his First Symphony; however, the Sonata in itself is already an original and vibrant statement of the young composer.” After Children’s Album, Trifonov rounds off the album with the stunning arrangement by Mikhail Pletnev of a suite from Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Sleeping Beauty. “It’s a remarkable tribute to Tchaikovsky,” says Trifonov; “I always enjoy playing transcriptions for piano that are inventive, and which find an original way to put an orchestra score to a single instrument—which is often not an easy task!” Nor is playing Pletnev’s transcription, but Trifonov takes both its lyricism and grandeur entirely in his stride for an astonishing finale.