Simon Trpčeski cherishes the sound of nature in Grieg’s Piano Concerto

A favorite among local audiences, Macedonian-born pianist Simon Trpčeski often performs keyboard standards by Russian composers, as was the case this summer, when he joined the Grant Park Symphony for Rachmaninov’s Piano Concert No. 2. 

When he returns to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for concerts Oct. 27 to Nov. 1 under Xian Zhang, Trpčeski will tackle another vaunted keyboard staple: Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor. Comparing Grieg’s concerto with Russian masterworks, Trpčeski sees a similar latitude in the Norwegian composer’s music. “It certainly has some connection to Tchaikovsky deep beneath the surface,” he said in an interview for Ravinia magazine, ahead of a 2018 concert there with the CSO and Vasily Petrenko. “Grieg’s concerto is a perfect combination of the broad expression of Romanticism with the sheer beauty of Norway, combining the grandeur of the piano with the colorful and tasteful use of the orchestra.

“As in every piece of music, and particularly one so popular, one should go deep into the composer’s details in the score, to make it interesting, fresh and alive. Knowing Petrenko, I’m sure that this will be the case in the orchestral part of the performance.”

Besides Grieg’s concerto, Trpčeski pointed out that many of the composer’s solo works reveal a more intimate side, such as the Holberg Suite, most frequently performed in a string orchestra arrangement. “I have not played much of his solo piano music, but it certainly needs a different approach than the concerto, simply because they are different forms,” he said. “But the ‘sound’ of nature in Norway is there in both.”

Trpčeski also has a personal connection to the Grieg. “The Grieg concerto was the second piano concerto I learned in my life, when I was 15, together with Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin,” he said in an 2019 interview with CorD magazine. “Although I come from the south of Europe and Grieg is from Scandinavia, I find it very natural in a way. Grieg is actually the founder of Norwegian classical music, but I find him very close to the language of nature, which I experienced as a child back in my father’s village in the mountains of Macedonia. The simplicity of these tunes, the freshness and calmness, are just incredible. It’s a really sophisticated piece of music.”