Daniil Trifonov selects

ALEXANDER NEVSKY

“Alexander Nevsky is one of the staples in early film ventures that placed video and music synchronization at its core. And not just any music, but a score by Sergei Prokofiev, which later he would publish as an independent cantata of the same name. While it is extremely rare for a film’s music to find a place in standard repertoire, this is such a case and one can instantly hear the vivid and picture-painting nature of the music originating at its roots with the film. Prokofiev closely curated the production of the film, which tells a story based on the 1242 Battle on the Ice, when Russia, ruled by its key medieval figure, Alexander Nevsky, was invaded by Teutonic forces. The film is also an interesting bilingual experiment, as the invaders’ lines are sung in Latin and reminiscent of Gregorian chants, while the Russian forces are sung in Russian and using Slavic motifs, which helps augment the descriptive nature of the music.”—Daniil Trifonov

Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov “has everything and more…tenderness and also the demonic element. I never heard anything like that,” marveled pianist Martha Argerich. In 2018 he added a Grammy Award (Best Instrumental Solo Album) to his already considerable string of honors.

ABOUT THE FILM

On the eve of World War II, the great Russian director Sergei Eisenstein (Battleship Potemkin) and Sergei Prokofiev were whisked into service as Russia readied itself for battle—and so the epic Alexander Nevsky, the stirring tale of a ragtag Russian army battling a powerful invader, came to be.

We will play a short 10-minute film featuring Daniil Trifonov playing the first movement of Rachmaninov’s Fourth Concerto before the showing of Alexander Nevsky. 

Daniil Trifonov appears Courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon.