Daniil Trifonov, piano & Matthias Goerne, baritone

Here’s the duo of the season—the hottest pianist on the planet joining forces with the baritone of the moment. And in writing about Daniil Trifonov (who made his McCarter recital debut in 2013) the words of The New Yorker’s Alex Ross say it better than anyone: “He creates a furor with a rare combination of monstrous technique and lustrous tone in much the same manner as such illustrious predecessors as Horowitz, Argerich, Richter, and Evgeny Kissin.” After winning both the Tchaikovsky and the Arthur Rubinstein competitions in 2012, Trifonov has steadily climbed every musical Everest in his path. Next season, he will be Carnegie Hall’s “Artist in Residence,” curating seven different programs. His latest CD is Liszt’s complete Transcendental Etudes, on which he plays some of the most taxing piano writing ever put on paper. Matthias Goerne was last at McCarter in joint recital with Alfred Brendel in 2001 and continues to conquer opera stages the world over. His resume covers every major role in the repertoire, from Amfortas and Wotan (the Wanderer) to Orestes, Jochanaan, Wozzeck, and the Duke in Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle.

Program: works by Schumann, Berg, and Wolf.