Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov has released a video on YouTube performing the Fairy of Silver from Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Sleeping Beauty in the solo piano transcription by Mikhail Pletnev. The excerpt comes from a concert available on STAGE+, Deutsche Grammophon’s streaming service.
The performance also serves as a preview of Trifonov’s forthcoming album devoted to Tchaikovsky’s piano works. Alongside early and less frequently played pieces such as the Piano Sonata in C sharp minor and the Thème original et variations, the album includes the Children’s Album, Op. 39, a cycle written for young pianists but often performed on stage.
It concludes with Pletnev’s virtuosic suite from The Sleeping Beauty, a transcription that highlights both the colour of Tchaikovsky’s ballet and the demands of solo piano writing. Pletnev created the suite in 1978, the same year he won the International Tchaikovsky Competition — a competition that Trifonov himself won in 2011.
Subscribe to our newsletter