Audience "staggered by Trifonov's titanic premiere" at CIM

Daniil Trifonov joined with his classmates in the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, under the skillful baton of CIM President Joel Smirnoff, to premiere his first original concerto earning uproarious applause and accolades from the near capacity audience and reviewer Zachary Lewis of The Plain Dealer.

Lewis, who live blogged the first reading (March 18) of this concerto by the 23-year-old CIM student and world-class soloist, indicated that even his sneak preview could not have prepared him for the unfolding of the full score on Wednesday, April 23.

"Much as Prokofiev’s earliest listeners were surely stunned, so was a a house full of benefactors Wednesday night in Kulas Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music staggered by Trifonov’s titanic premiere of his own First Piano Concerto," Lewis writes in his online review.

He goes on to recognize Trifonov's "raw originality" as well as the influences of such masters as Scriabin, Bartok, Shostakovich and Prokofiev. No surprise to anyone familiar with the pianist's oft-performed repertoire.

Lewis also called out the partnership between pianist and orchestra in Trifonov's Piano Concerto in E-flat minor and highlighted the "sparkling" performances by the Orchestra in the first half of the program, which includes works by Liadov, Bartok and Tchaikovsky.

Read the entire review online at Cleveland.com.

Update 4/30/14: Enjoy another rave review of the event at ClevelandClassical.com.