Silver Age—Daniil Trifonov, piano; Mariinsky Orchestra/Valéry Gergiev (DeutGram 4835331)
Daniil Trifonov’s new album, Silver Age, recorded with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, recalls a time when Russia’s composers, poets, artists, dramatists and star performers were among the most original anywhere in the world. It illustrates the artistic audacity and brilliance of a turbulent era in the country’s history with works by three of its most pioneering composers: Alexander Scriabin’s Piano Concerto in F-Sharp minor Op 20, Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor Op 16 and Igor Stravinsky’s Three Movements from Pétrouchka. The program also includes Stravinsky’s Serenade in A and Guido Agosti’s arrangement of the Infernal Dance, Lullaby and Finale from Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird. Prokofiev’s Sarcasms Op 17, Piano Sonata No.8 in B-Flat Op 84 and the Gavotte from Cinderella Op 95 No.2 round out this imaginative and—as is always the case with CIM grad Trifonov—astonishingly well-played recital.