Take Your Seat! Trifonov Plays Brahms in Berlin

“He has everything and more – tenderness and also the demonic element. I never heard anything like that,” as Martha Argerich once said of Daniil Trifonov. To celebrate the end of the year, the star pianist performs Johannes Brahms’s monumental Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Kirill Petrenko on December 31. Piano Street’s members are invited to watch the livestream.

Berliner Philharmoniker – Kirill Petrenko – Daniil Trifonov
LIVESTREAM: Tuesday 31 December 2024, 16:30 GMT, (11:30 New York)
Repeat: Wednesday 1 January 2025, 07:00 GMT (02:00 New York)

Program:
Johannes Brahms – Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in B flat major, op. 83
Richard Wagner – Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Prelude to Act 1
Richard Strauss – Der Rosenkavalier: Waltzes
Richard Strauss – Salome: Dance of the seven veils

Before the concert: Kirill Petrenko in conversation with Johannes Lamotke
Before the concert: Daniil Trifonov in conversation with Stefan Dohr

In 2024, the Berliner Philharmoniker’s New Year’s Eve Concert under the baton of its chief conductor Kirill Petrenko promises Viennese flair. Hamburg’s Johannes Brahms and Munich’s Richard Strauss were both closely associated with the Austrian capital: Brahms found his adopted home here from 1871, and Strauss not only served for a time as head of the famous Hofoper, but also wrote Der Rosenkavalier, probably the most “Viennese” opera in music history. In this concert, the finale from Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto, which echoes the Hungarian tone so popular in the Habsburg metropolis, and excerpts from Der Rosenkavalier both radiate distinctly local colour.

Daniil Trifonov, who was the orchestra’s Artist in Residence in the 2018/19 season, is the soloist in one of the most demanding piano concertos of the 19th century. The fact that Brahms conceived it as the only one of his concertos in four movements points to the symphonic genre, and has an expressive spectrum that is just as broad: it ranges from a restrained, mysterious dialogue between the horn and piano, the impassioned second movement and the dreamy andante with its magnificent cello solo, to the sparkling finale.

In the second half of the concert, Kirill Petrenko, a seasoned Strauss conductor, brings a dance-like atmosphere to the Philharmonie, which is an indispensable part of New Year celebrations. In the second waltz sequence from Der Rosenkavalier, Strauss himself brought together highlights from the last act of his opera. A completely different, oriental-inspired atmosphere characterises the dance scene from the finale of the opera Salome. The stage work – whose Dresden premiere in 1905 was a succès de scandale – established the reputation of opera composer Richard Strauss.

Follow along in the digital piano score!

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