13 February - Evgeny Kissin

Liszt Recital, Barbican

What a recital! It was phenomenal, completely mind blowing – I came out feeling I had seen and heard everything that I had ever needed.

I’ve been to every single one of his recitals in London (and one in Birmingham!) since we moved to the UK five and half years ago, and this evening was one of the very best. What a fulfilling program. What stamina. And what charisma. Evgeny Kissin is a true genius, and is blessed with god-given talent.

The full Liszt evening started out with the ninth study of Études d’exécution transcendante, “Ricordanza”. It has a beautiful opening melody which was played with the gentlest care. This piece is really poetic and tranquil, and it is unusual for Kissin to start off with a piece like this. He strikes one as such a passionate performer but, to some, he appears to resort to too much banging. Oh, but the sensitivity he gave during this piece was amazing! His pianissimo was just astonishingly beautiful.

Then, Sonata in B minor.  What can I say, other than it was awesome.  At the beginning, it seemed as if he was battling and fighting with the piano with his aggressive manner of playing. I did realise though that these loud notes he produces were not really like banging; they were deep, heavy, warm and embracing at times. The contrast between his fortissimo and pianissimo was truly amazing. I particularly liked the slow section of this Sonata. The programme notes say that, although the sonata unfolds as a single extended movement, everything is meticulously planned. Well that was exactly how Kissin played, having prepared and planned meticulously how to play it. By the way, his facial expression was almost painful to watch (and we were in the front row!). It was as if the entire world’s burden was on his shoulder. Junko, who had never been to one of his concerts before, asked me if he was always like that. I thought for a while, then I answered that actually, yes - Kissin’s facial expression and the noises he produces (huffing, growling and humming) are always there whether he is playing Liszt, Rachmaninov, Chopin or Mozart! And another thing, at the end of this piece someone coughed out loud - at the very moment Kissin played the last note to end this beautiful piece! I just could not believe it. I understand people need to cough, but why do it at such a crucial moment???

Anyway needless to say, Les and I spoke endlessly about how wonderful the first half was. Eldred kindly bought a bottle of wine, so the four of us sipped wine and talked over what we had just heard.

When I go to a recital, I normally find out about the program and take time to familiarize myself with the pieces, by obtaining CDs and listening to them. This time, despite the fact that I had bought tickets ages ago, I had little time for preparation. Therefore I was thrilled to find out that the latter half of Kissin’s programme included Funérailles and Vallée d’ Obermann. Emmanuel Despax played Funérailles at Breinton about two weeks ago, and Evelyn Berezovsky played the latter when she came to us in November 2009. I loved both pieces – so dynamic and emotional. Kissin finished the recital with Venezia e Napoli. I so much enjoyed the whole recital.

Two encores followed. I was hoping that he’d play Widmung (Schumann /Lizst), and he did! I’ve head him play this piece many times, but I can never be bored with it! I have lots of favourites but this is definitely one of them. I also had a feeling that he was going to play one more encore and that the piece would be Soirees de Vienne #6 (Schubert / Liszt). And so it was! What could I want more?

My husband just showed me the Evening Standard review on this recital. Why do music critics never like him?? Those critics must be much more knowledgeable about music than me and it is perhaps their job to criticize musicians – but I just simply praise and admire what I heard and witnessed. After all, who could fill the Barbican completely (his recitals always include extra seating on the stage too, as the seats get booked up) where nearly everyone participated in a standing ovation?

Both the Financial Times and the Guardian reviews were much more positive - Lionel.