Daniil Trifonov – BACH: The Art of Life (Encore Edition) (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Daniil Trifonov - BACH: The Art of Life (Encore Edition) (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

As a follow up to Daniil Trifonov’s newest release BACH: The Art of Life, this Encore Edition includes a brand new variation by Daniil Trifonov – applying all the formal rigors of Bach’s design in the form of a Canon – giving the original motivic and harmonic invention a uniquely 21st Century sound.

BACH: The Art of Life is dedicated to J.S. Bach. Trifonov explores the scientific, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of Bach’s cosmos, his faith, family, and world. Centered around Bach’s mystical masterpiece, The Art of the Fugue, Trifonov’s project investigates the man behind the myth – a genius of humility and humor, whose loves, losses, and devotion inspired what Trifonov calls “some of humanity’s most emotionally rich and fascinatingly sophisticated expressions in music.”

Pianist Daniil Trifonov is known for performances of 19th and 20th century virtuoso repertory and hardly at all for Bach. Thus one might expect from his album Bach: The Art of Life a certain old-school Romantic quality and even music that is a bit over the top. The album is all that and more. The title is a bit unclear; the interview-format notes quote Trifonov references to Bach’s personal life, but also to various scientific phenomena, but one may dispense with those and get down to the music, which doubtless showcases Trifonov’s formidable technical skills. With Bach, it is not about keyboard-clattering speed but about subtlety of inflection, and the variety brought to the little selections from the Bach’s Anna Magdalena Book, pieces that almost everyone who has touched a keyboard has played, is extraordinary. Trifonov also includes a group of pieces by Bach’s sons, and he does unusually well at finding what critic Harold Bloom called the anxiety of influence in these, their J.S. Bachian quality even in a stylistic world that had fundamentally changed. However, none of these really prepares the listener for the album’s centerpiece, The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080, which is divided between the two CDs in the physical version. It is as imposing as the rest of the album is light, and listeners will either love the contrast (Trifonov fans are sure to fall into this category) or find it jarring. Listen to the “Contrapunctus 6 (“in stylo Francese”)” for an idea of the outlandish personalities Trifonov gives each fugue here. Even those who find it a bit much will have to concede the skill involved in fully realizing each idea. Instead of breaking off at the end of the unfinished final fugue, Trifonov furnishes his own completion, and it’s actually one of the more convincing tries on the market. Listeners will have their own opinions about this release, but it is absolutely never boring, and its commercial success suggests that Trifonov’s legions are increasing in number.

Tracklist:

01. Daniil Trifonov – I. Allegro (03:38)
02. Daniil Trifonov – II. Presto (02:36)
03. Daniil Trifonov – No. 8 in E Minor (05:17)
04. Daniil Trifonov – IV. Rondo in C Minor, H. 283 (04:46)
05. Daniil Trifonov – Thema (Allegretto) (00:22)
06. Daniil Trifonov – Var. 1 (00:17)
07. Daniil Trifonov – Var. 2 (00:21)
08. Daniil Trifonov – Var. 3 (00:23)
09. Daniil Trifonov – Var. 4 (Minore) (00:37)
10. Daniil Trifonov – Var. 5 (Maggiore) (00:16)
11. Daniil Trifonov – Var. 6 (Tempo di Minuetto) (00:45)
12. Daniil Trifonov – Var. 7 (00:31)
13. Daniil Trifonov – Var. 8 (Schwäbisch, Non allegro) (00:32)
14. Daniil Trifonov – Var. 9 (Minore, Tranquillo) (00:35)
15. Daniil Trifonov – Var. 10 (Maggiore, Tempo I) (00:30)
16. Daniil Trifonov – Var. 11 (00:23)
17. Daniil Trifonov – Var. 12 (Alla Siciliano) (00:33)
18. Daniil Trifonov – Var. 13 (00:12)
19. Daniil Trifonov – Var. 14 (00:17)
20. Daniil Trifonov – Var. 15 (Più andante) (00:49)
21. Daniil Trifonov – Var. 16 (Tempo I) (00:18)
22. Daniil Trifonov – Var. 17 (Minore) (00:27)
23. Daniil Trifonov – Var. 18 (Maggiore, Allegro) (00:31)
24. Daniil Trifonov – J.S. Bach: Musette in D Major, BWV Anh. 126 (Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, 1725) (00:56)
25. Daniil Trifonov – J.S. Bach: Aria “Gedenke doch, mein Geist, zurücke”, BWV 509 (Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, 1725) (00:42)
26. Daniil Trifonov – J.S. Bach: Minuet in A Minor, BWV Anh. 120 (Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, 1725) (01:33)
27. Daniil Trifonov – J.S. Bach: Minuet in F Major, BWV Anh. 113 (Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, 1725) (02:56)
28. Daniil Trifonov – J.S. Bach: Polonaise in F Major, BWV Anh. 117b (Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, 1725) (00:57)
29. Daniil Trifonov – J.S. Bach: [Polonaise] in D Minor, BWV Anh. 128 (Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, 1725) (03:41)
30. Daniil Trifonov – J.S. Bach: Choral “Gib dich zufrieden und sei stille”, BWV 511 (Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, 1725) (01:05)
31. Daniil Trifonov – Petzold: Minuet in G Major, BWV Anh. 114 (Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, 1725) (01:45)
32. Daniil Trifonov – J.S. Bach: Minuet in G Major, BWV Anh. 116 (Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, 1725) (01:12)
33. Daniil Trifonov – C.P.E. Bach: Polonaise in G Minor, BWV Anh. 125 (Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, 1725) (01:09)
34. Daniil Trifonov – J.S. Bach: Minuet in C Minor, BWV Anh. 121 (Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, 1725) (01:33)
35. Daniil Trifonov – Stölzel: Bist du bei mir (Formerly Attrib. J.S. Bach as BWV 508, Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, 1725) (03:29)
36. Daniil Trifonov – V. Chaconne (After Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004 by J.S. Bach, Arr. for Piano) (15:00)
37. Daniil Trifonov – Contrapunctus 1 (02:44)
38. Daniil Trifonov – Contrapunctus 2 (02:22)
39. Daniil Trifonov – Contrapunctus 3 (02:32)
40. Daniil Trifonov – Contrapunctus 4 (02:39)
41. Daniil Trifonov – Contrapunctus 5 (03:06)
42. Daniil Trifonov – Contrapunctus 6 [per Diminutionem] in Stylo Francese (05:33)
43. Daniil Trifonov – Contrapunctus 7 per Augmentationem et Diminutionem (03:21)
44. Daniil Trifonov – Contrapunctus 8 (05:00)
45. Daniil Trifonov – Contrapunctus 9 alla Duodecima (02:29)
46. Daniil Trifonov – Contrapunctus 10 alla Decima (04:01)
47. Daniil Trifonov – Contrapunctus 11 (04:53)
48. Daniil Trifonov – Contrapunctus [12] [rectus] (03:25)
49. Daniil Trifonov – Contrapunctus 12 inversus (03:15)
50. Daniil Trifonov – Contrapunctus [13] [rectus] (01:52)
51. Daniil Trifonov – Contrapunctus [13] inversus (01:57)
52. Daniil Trifonov – Canon [in Hypodiatessaron] per Augmentationem in Contrario Motu (03:32)
53. Daniil Trifonov – Canon in Hypodiapason (Canon alla Ottava) (01:51)
54. Daniil Trifonov – Canon alla Decima in Contrapunto alla Terza (03:12)
55. Daniil Trifonov – Canon alla Duodecima in Contrapunto alla Quinta (02:40)
56. Daniil Trifonov – [Contrapunctus 14] (Compl. by Daniil Trifonov) (10:33)
57. Daniil Trifonov – Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (Transcr. Hess for Piano) (04:18)