Gergiev and Trifonov on MediciTV

[Belle]

I'm watching a performance of Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra/Gergiev/Trifonov in a gala program last night for the opening of the Zaryadye Concert Hall. My god; I've never heard a performance of the Rachmaninov Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini like this before!!! (Aided and abetted by extra good computer speaker and DAC system.) Trifonov is absolutely on fire but you can hardly hear the orchestra! He's bringing this tired old warhorse back to life!! Tender when it needs to be, virtuosic and stunning by turns.

Update: towards the end there are some problems. I don't actually recognize some of the passages before the cadenza at all. What can this mean, I wonder?

[Rach3]

You may be correct, and my aural memory is far from reliable, but I listened couple of times from the start of the 18th Variation on and did not hear any problems. ( I have no score. ) The Medici sound is so bright, and Trifonov’s playing and phrasing so forceful and transparent ( and perhaps a little too notey, percussive at times ? ) that details other pianists dont, or cant , emphasize stand out more here ?

Trifonov/Gergiev : https://www.medici.tv/en/concerts/zarya ... d-opening/

Also compared Trifonov here to a YT of Hough playing the work at the 2013 Proms. Think it’s the sound and different styles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c33q87s03h4

Again my aural memory .....

[Belle]

Stephen Hough: a very thoughtful player and one of the very best. I've just read about Hough on Wiki and, though not completely trustworthy, it tells me his father was born in Australia - the same year as my mother and 35 minutes' drive from my house here. He worked for the major steel company where my father was an executive; in fact, Hough's father could have worked for my father. I'm sure I would have remembered the name if my father had mentioned it, so I presume he wasn't in the top management eschalon. Interesting co-incidence. Hough and myself share similar backgrounds!! Catholics whose fathers worked in the steel industry, with a parent born in this area.

I prefer Hough's Rachmaninov Paganini Variations to the performance of Trifonov.

[Rach3]

Stephen Hough: a very thoughtful player and one of the very best.

Yes, I have several of Hough's cd's. Often at his best in smaller forms ,perhaps. His cd's of Mompou and York Bowen are musts for me.

Rachmaninoff's own recording of his Rhapsody should be heard, too, despite the sound.

[Belle]

Stephen Hough: a very thoughtful player and one of the very best.

Yes, I have several of Hough's cd's. Often at his best in smaller forms ,perhaps. His cd's of Mompou and York Bowen are musts for me.

Rachmaninoff's own recording of his Rhapsody should be heard, too, despite the sound.

I don't know Mompou or York Bowen; never heard of them.

[Rach3]

I don't know Mompou or York Bowen; never heard of them.

Hough’s Mompou and Bowen cd’s at Amazon-US :

http://tinyurl.com/ydaus9sl

http://tinyurl.com/yb3g2ksr

[Belle]

Thanks for that.