The German Record Critics' Prize presents the current longlist 1/2024. The currently 154 critic jurors have nominated a total of 292 new releases from the last quarter in 32 categories that are eligible for the next best list. The 1/2024 leader board will be published on February 15th. Longlist 1/2024 Jury concerts...-Brahms: Piano Concertos No. 1 & 2. Simon Trpčeski, WDR SO, Cristian Măcelaru (Linn)...

The critics of this newspaper (film, theater, art, music and literature) chose ten of the most successful works from fields that were shown, performed, published or organized this year in Serbia.

Simon Trpčeski’s playing has always had a touch of brilliance, which has ample chance to glitter, but he doesn’t stint on the requisite grandeur of sound. Granitey octaves often alternate with rounded legato; and his sense of rubato is superb, with a subtle holding-back at key moments, as in the second theme of the D minor’s first movement. There’s a beautiful sense of balance and line, phrased with a natural ebb and flow while bringing out the songfulness. He and Măcelaru seem to bounce ideas off one another as the character of the themes emerges and gels. — Jessica Duchen, BBC Music Magazine

Soloist Simon Trpčeski showed full command of the piano part, skilfully negotiating its avowedly awkward keyboard writing. The piano’s relation to the orchestra alternates between consolation and confrontation. He managed both, but was more impressive in the former. The tremendous sense of struggle in the work, especially in its long and eventful first movement, was slightly muted on this occasion, despite some potent playing of its chromatic trills and double octaves. However, Trpčeski was fully satisfying in the subsequent movements. The Adagio was a benediction, appropriately so since the manuscript is inscribed Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Whether or not that refers to the tragedy of Robert Schumann, this was affecting pianism. Trpčeski set a lively tempo in launching the finale, the élan in his playing and that of the LSO earning a heartfelt cheer from the packed house.

Making his second visit to Tasmania, Macedonian pianist Simon Trpčeski took on one of the really big pieces in the concerto repertoire – the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat, Op. 83. He brought both ardour and strength to bear on this grand work, but also an unexpected fluent delicacy to many passages where a heavier approach is often taken.He brought both ardour and strength to bear on this grand work, but also an unexpected fluent delicacy to many passages where a heavier approach is often taken.He brought both ardour and strength to bear on this grand work, but also an unexpected fluent delicacy to many passages where a heavier approach is often taken.

The remarkable double act returns! Britten and Pears? Morecambe and Wise? No, it’s the Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski and the Romanian conductor Cristian Macelaru, last seen delighting us with Shostakovich’s two piano concertos, now doing the same with the pair by Brahms. Each work is a repertoire colossus, though with these musicians even the most jaded listeners must come away not just refreshed, but excited as well.

This is oratory Brahms and it takes a big player, such as Trpčeski certainly is, to do it justice. The movement’s opening horn/woodwind motif is perfectly played by the members of the WDR Sinfonieorchester and Trpčeski responds with a commanding cadenza, his shifts of tempo always well judged. Note the assertive tutti that follows, the superbly balanced bassoon-led woodwinds at 2'28", then the swinging pendulum at 2'56" (a typically Brahmsian gesture). In the scherzo Trpčeski proceeds towards the big central tutti, where Cristian Măcelaru holds the pace steady, then in the slow movement the pianist’s rapturous response to the solo cellist’s theme (more beautiful playing, I presume by Oren Shevlin) is extremely moving. The finale on the other hand is transparent and crisp.

Trpceski's entry was modest but warm, with endless time to work over gentle phrases. Limpid expression asked little of the audience save to let the music wash over & immerse the hall. Brahms' muse, Clara Schumann, might have been present in the woodwind chorale that drifted in over rumbling piano before a fresh spark reignited the attack in majestic melody & harmony. Between solos Trpceski seemed to be shaping the sound as if conducting, returning to the keyboard for ethereal meanderings; lifting in cadenza-like flurries then fading to a chordal ensemble cadence.Launching instantly into the Rondo finale, Trpceski attacked with verve & virtuosic flair, handing off to the orchestra for another mood swing and frenzy of notes.All were spectators for a brilliant cadenza display that drew the orchestra into a final canter through blistering runs to a bombastic conclusion.

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Transcriptions of Macedonian traditional music

by Pande Shahov in collaboration with Simon Trpčeski

23.10.2023 / Sombor, Serbia / Somus Festival / Svečana sala Gradske kuće / 19:00h / Concert details

24.10.2023 / Zagreb, Croatia / Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall / 20:00h / Concert details

26.10.2023 / Novi Sad, Serbia / Nomus Festival / Sinagoga, Novi Sad / 20:00h / Concert details

28.10.2023 / Timișoara, Romania / Filarmonica Banatul Timișoara - Sala Capitol / 19:00h / Concert details

Friendship comes out of a strong sense of belief, stemming from his country’s struggle throughout the age, his love for music, his faith in humanity’s inner strength and, above all, his friends and colleagues who made this recording happen. Mirroring this confidence-embracing approach, the neatly curated repertoire includes Brahms’s fiery Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, a work full of love, power and boldness. Connesson’s jaw-dropping Divertimento is presented in a fantastic newly available arrangement by percussionist Vlatko Nushev. And sandwiched between the two, Pande Shahov’s three-movement Quintet ends in a triumphant manner.