Daniil Trifonov presents his new Album My American Story – North

“One of the most mesmerising pianists of our time” 
Bachtrack

Daniil Trifonov sets out to explore the music of the Americas

Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra 
join the pianist for Gershwin’s Concerto in F and 
the world premiere recording of Mason Bates’s Piano Concerto
Trifonov also performs solo works by Adams, Cage, Copland, Corigliano and more
 “I want to share many of the different genres, aspects and directions 
found in American music”
Daniil Trifonov

For his latest Deutsche Grammophon project, Daniil Trifonov is embarking on a pianistic journey across the Americas. Set for release on 4 October 2024, the first of two volumes, My American Story – North, takes in a wide range of repertoire from the United States, the country the pianist has called home for almost half his life. The album ranges from jazz and swing to modernism, minimalism and popular soundtracks, covering a century of US music for solo piano or piano and orchestra. “I did not intend to record an anthology,” says Trifonov. “These are simply favourites of mine that speak to me on a musical level.” Joined by The Philadelphia Orchestra and its Music and Artistic Director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, in George Gershwin’s much-loved Concerto in F and the world premiere of the brand-new concerto written for him by Mason Bates, Trifonov also performs solo works by John Adams, John Cage, Aaron Copland, John Corigliano, Dave Grusin, Thomas Newman, Art Tatum and Bill Evans.

My American Story – North will be released digitally, on 2 CDs and as an 3-LP vinyl version (offering extended liner notes, additional photos and two bonus tracks). One of these, Trifonov’s transcription of “Secunda” from the soundtrack to the popular video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was released as a digital single on 19 July. This will be followed on 23 August by his transcription of Victor Young’s When I Fall in Love (as interpreted by Bill Evans), which will be accompanied by a video; on 6 September by John Adams’s China Gates; and on 20 September by the main theme from Thomas Newman’s American Beauty. A video for the finale of Gershwin’s Concerto in F comes out on the same day as the album, 4 October.

Daniil Trifonov moved to the US aged 17 to study with Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM). As well as helping him prepare for the 2010 Chopin Competition and 2011 Tchaikovsky Competition, his teacher also introduced him to films, literature and other musical genres, including the jazz piano of Art Tatum. Still friends today, Trifonov and Babayan released the critically acclaimed Rachmaninoff For Two earlier this year (“a winning mix of limitless pianism, deep knowledge and visionary boldness” – Gramophone).

Forming the backbone of My American Story – North are two dazzling works for piano and orchestra written a century apart. Describing Gershwin’s Concerto in F of 1925 as a “fountain of tunes” by a “great melodist”, Trifonov recalls being captivated by the piano’s first entry and by a later section that made him think of “a chase scene in a black-and-white movie, through the dark streets of Chicago!”. Ideal support is provided by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra, who capture all the colour, poetry, energy and ebullience of Gershwin’s writing.

It was with the same musicians that Trifonov gave the world premiere of Mason Bates’ Piano Concerto in January 2022. That same enthusiastically-received performance (“the concerto faced its historic predecessors (Rachmaninoff included) with fire-breathing, head-on audacity” – Classical Voice North America; “Stunning. Staggering. Stupendous.” – Bachtrack) is the one included here.

Co-commissioned for the pianist by The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Concerto traverses a different soundworld in each movement. The first, as Trifonov observes, pays tribute to the Renaissance, with strumming strings and dance-like rhythms, while the second leaps forward into the Romantic era, with what he calls a “soulful conversation between the orchestra and the pianist”. Bates himself labels the third movement a “jazz-minimalist finale, alight with mercurial humor and lopsided grooves”.

While both concertos are full of challenges, when asked which is the most demanding work on the album, Trifonov names Copland’s Piano Variations. “It requires quite a commitment, both emotional and physical,” he explains. “If you play it twice you’re tired, so the recording sessions were hard.”

The other solo pieces on the album include tributes to jazz pianism – Trifonov’s own transcriptions of Art Tatum’s take on I Cover the Waterfront and Bill Evans’ version of When I Fall in Love – and to Hollywood, represented by excerpts from the soundtracks to American Beauty and The Firm. And finally, there are contrasting minimalist gems by John Corigliano and John Adams, and a timeless classic by Cage, captured in a special New York field recording: 4’33 (Cage@Columbus).

Trifonov’s American travels have also taken him south of the US, not least because his wife and fellow pianist Judith Ramirez (whom he met at CIM) is from the Dominican Republic. Volume 2 in this recording project, My American Story – South (to be released at a later date), will paint an equally rich and eclectic musical portrait of Latin America.