Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903

The Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue pulls Trifonov into an entirely different mode — here Bach is volcanic, harmonically restless, a composer pushing the very edges of tonal language two centuries before Liszt or Wagner. Trifonov's reading crackles with barely contained electricity. The fantasia section unfurls as a series of dramatic recitative passages, each chromatic twist landing like a question mark suspended in air, and Trifonov navigates the unstable harmonic terrain with a pianist's instinct for structural drama — each dissonance weighted, each resolution slightly delayed. When the fugue enters, it does so with coiled authority, Trifonov tracking four voices simultaneously while maintaining a single propulsive momentum. The D minor tonality carries an ancient, almost folk-like severity here, and the performance has the quality of improvisation despite its architecture. Bach composed this as a keyboard showpiece, a demonstration of what the instrument and player could do together at maximum intensity. Trifonov obliges completely.