Trifonov Plays Brahms by Walker, George, Lutosławski, Brahms, Sib 13 Jan 2024, Minn (2024/2024), Surmast Direttur Gustavo Gimeno, Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto, Canada

Incomparable Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov takes on the technically brilliant Piano Concerto No. 1 of Johannes Brahms. Uncompromisingly intense yet charismatic, the work has been interpreted as an unrequited love letter to Clara Schumann, whose husband, Robert, was both friend and mentor to Brahms. Opening the program is the rhythmic and dignified Sinfonia No. 2 of George Walker, the first Black composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music (1996). And Polish folk melodies are infused with elaborate orchestral textures in Witold Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra, written to herald the Warsaw Orchestra’s rise from the ashes of devastating German occupation in World War II.