Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony

If indeed what’s past is prologue, this review of Trifonov’s last performance with The Philadelphia Orchestra is a tantalizing glimpse of what is to come: “It was a high-octane performance delivered with stupendous dexterity, Trifonov hunched over the keyboard almost throughout, Nézet-Séguin throwing him watchful, admiring looks during the electromagnetic accompaniment. What impressed me just as much as all the virtuoso elements was the translucency of the filigree textures” and the “displays of poetry and passion….” (Bachtrack).

Pairing Prokofiev’s pianistic pyrotechnics with Tchaikovsky’s irresistible romance, the program is led by the gifted Paavo Järvi, a conductor who relates body and soul with the musicians he commands: “One rarely experiences such an immediate connection between orchestra and conductor, such an extraordinarily attentive presence on both sides so that with economical means an understanding of the most subtle shades is possible” (Wiener Zeitung).