Schubert: Piano Sonata in B-flat; Schubert-Liszt: Four Songs; Liszt: Mephisto
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CD Details
Composer: Franz LisztComposer: Franz Schubert
Performer: Evgeny Kissin
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2004-05-04
Music Label: RCA
Soundtracks:
- Molto moderato
- Andante sostenuto
- Scherzo: Allegro vivace con delicatezza
- Allegro, ma non troppo
Music reviews of Schubert: Piano Sonata in B-flat; Schubert-Liszt: Four Songs; Liszt: Mephisto
Music Review: Only 1\2 bad
Rating: 3 Stars
It seems that everyone(a very small group of everyone in reality since no one cares about this kind of music anymore) is complaing about the tempo of the first movmt of Schub's final testament played by kissin. Tempo seems to be the ultimate focus of the amateur critic. I mean, the guy several blogs below(or above) wrote a paper with no issues beyond he played it this long while she played it that long.
Kissin does play this piece at a horrible pace, and the main problem with that, the reason Richter and kempff pull off their very different versions(in terms of length) is because they, while playing it at their chosen speeds, let the piece grow, because this piece, more than any other sonata I know, lives and dies with the players ability to make it an organic journey. kissin fails at this almost from the first step. It just doesnt seem to go anywhere, and I am a great admirer of Kissin, and do feel he has become the anti pianist to prof critics anywhere. This is not a young man's sonata. There is something, i do not know what it is, that a pianist needs to learn about life before he should, not can, should play this. Maybe it is because, like almsot every review here suggests, they believe that a slow tempo, or that playing anything slow, gives it more depth, piety, or that it somehow means more if you have more time to listen and think over it.
The main reason I do not enjoy Kissin's view of this piece is not the first mvmt, which seems to be everyones focus, but the second, which is the real gem of the piece. Really listen to it next time, man you will really hear something if you have never paid attention to this before. I was shocked when he completely destroyed the foundation he had built with the first mvmt going into the second. It was like listening to two different pianists, with two clashing views, again. this is not the music for a young man.
However, the Met Waltz1 is out of this world, really, out of this universe. He out horowitzs horowitz. this is the definitive version of this piece now, and the schubert-liszt trans are jewels of the lit and i am so pleased pianists are starting to record them more lately. Volodos, and Perahia both have released great discs with them and these are just as good if not better. For those looking to hear more there is a revelatory disc of Sofronitzky playing about six of them with several of the impromptus that is a ten star. I hope Kissin will record the Liszt Sonata soon, that is a good piece for a middle aged man, before they lose their chops, but have developed into something beyond a young man; Kissin is there in almost every sense of the word, but he is not even close to the D960.
Description of Schubert: Piano Sonata in B-flat; Schubert-Liszt: Four Songs; Liszt: Mephisto
It's hard not to be impressed by Kissin's immaculate pianism here, his lovely singing tone captivates while the finger-popping pyrotechnics of the Mephisto Waltz are dazzling. Kissin's interpretation of Schubert's great B-flat Sonata stresses the lyricism without understating its tragic elements. The opening theme, pocked with little pauses and left-hand ominous rumblings, is wistfully stated, and the clarity of the first climax testifies to Kissin's masterful technique. In some hands the first two movements can sound unvaried but here they're differentiated in tempo and mood. Kissin doesn't flinch from the music's daringly slow tread--the pair take almost 35 minutes, or almost as long as some performances of the entire work, yet Schubert's "heavenly lengths" never outstay their welcome. The song transcriptions are drop-dead gorgeous, not to be missed. But the Sonata is the main show and while Kissin's performance is highly recommendable, don't miss those of Arrau, Rubinstein, or Kempff, among the great older masters who have tackled this work on disc. --Dan Davis ENDGeneral CDs
- Styles > Classical
- Ballets & Dances > Waltzes
- Chamber Music > General
- Featured Composers, A-Z > ( L ) > Liszt, Franz
- ( S ) > Schubert, Franz
- Featured Performers, A-Z > ( K ) > Kissin, Evgeni
- Forms & Genres > Sonatas > Sonatinas
- Historical Periods > Classical (c.1770-1830) > Forms & Genres > Chamber Music
- Romantic (c.1820-1910) > Forms & Genres > Chamber Music
- Instruments > Keyboard > General
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