Valery Gergiev conducts Escaich, Beethoven, Dutilleux, Shchedrin, and Ravel — With Daniil Trifonov

The evening begins with a world premiere: Arising Dances by Thierry Escaich, commissioned specifically for the event. Then, Trifonov bursts onto the stage for a fiery rendition of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4, a work whose solo introduction and its brief second movement with almost no interaction between piano and orchestra set it as a unique contribution to the repertoire. We then move on to Dutilleux’s Métaboles. Along the course of this piece, written between 1962 and 1964, the composer explores both the rhetorical and biological sense of its title. The result is a series of musical elements, repeated by different groups of instruments while slowly morphing during the piece’s five movements, culminating in a breathtaking cadence, triumphantly exclaimed by the whole orchestra. Silence then falls on the magnificent venue, as we hear the first movement of Rodion Shchedrin’s The Sealed Angel for chorus and flute. The long ethereal notes, inspired by Russian liturgy, the melody, and the wealth of harmonies deployed by the composer cast a spell on the audience. The concert ends with the Daphnis et Chloé suite by Ravel, putting the finishing touch on an already magical evening.

Photo © Dario Acosta

Daniil Trifonov appears courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon.