I was supposed to be drafting yet another agent submission but instead I became captivated by the music I had chosen to listen to while I worked. I had to watch the entire Concerto and was transfixed by the pianist, Daniil Trifonov. He did not play the Concerto, he was the Concerto. This diabolically difficult piece took every ounce of energy he possessed such that, in the few rests, he sat bowed over the piano in total stillness without even pausing to wipe his brow, though he was bathed in sweat throughout the performance. I don’t think that running a marathon would generate such complete and utter physical exhaustion or demand what Trifonov goes through in generating this monumental piece through the very DNA of his being. The music seemed to run through him like an electrical current. A marathon runner expends physical energy but only needs to keep calm mentally, a pianist of this calibre must not only be able to endure the physical demands of the piece but also has to experience every emotion, no matter how painful, without being able to protect himself from it. He must suffer as Rachmaninov suffered and he must also somehow remember all 30, 000 notes of it. Watching him one is faced with the dizzying prospect of the years of work this must have taken him to master, the relentless hours of study, repetition, interpretation, and emotional attention to every nuance of the piece. Such a life must be one of almost total self-denial, complete devotion to the craft, with very little time left for a normal life.

Very few people have the character to give themselves over to an art in such an absolute way, without thought for their own needs. It is frightening to watch him play. You worry that this is too much for a frail human body to undertake, too arduous, this is music that exists at such heights that the human body is not equipped to survive at this altitude and yet, he does. The Rachmaninov 3 is a pianist’s Everest and Trifonov has just summited without the aid of oxygen.

Watch the concert here: http://bit.ly/2meStzA