Yooo I’ve got tickets to see tha TRIF play this week, solo program of Szymanowski Sonata no. 3, Debussy Pour le Piano, and Brahms F minor Sonata. Anybody heard him in person before? I heard him do Prok 2 a few years ago and didn’t like it, but I loved his playing in the competitions, so I’m curious what he’ll do in this rep.
From what I’ve heard, he’s either really great or pretty terrible; he’s a weird artist. He can play the most elegant Chopin you’ve ever heard, then mercilessly massacre Petrushka.
I don’t know the Szymanowski at all, the Debussy will probably not be to my taste, but the Prokofiev and Brahms I’m really excited for.
What do you guys think of Trif? Why the fuck is DG giving his albums those gayass titles? Did he and argerich ever fuck? Will he ever compose something that doesn’t sound like Korngold jizzing on Rachmaninoff? so many questions…
szymanowski was amazing, debussy was boring, and prokofiev was fine, maybe I actually just don’t like the piece after all.
but then he gave us an incredibly beautiful brahms, the most memorable live performance I’ve ever heard that piece. i usually get bored in a couple spots, but his control of color and voicing and line drew us through the whole piece. maybe his pedaling was the most impressive; he always got always a deep, rich sound, full of harmony and overtones, but never any blur.
fuck! it’s great when a performance can make you fall in love anew with a crusty old piece you’ve heard through practice room walls too many times.
two encores, first was the largo from zerxessz (i think) and then another i’m not sure about; im usually not too bad with obscure miniatures, so it was also very fun to hear something totally unknown to me. the audience was super nice too, no coughing during the beautiful moments!
Imo he’s a true Chopinist that got forced into playing a totally different kind of “athletic” rep which he works up to but it never sounds as natural as his delicate playing.
