Pictures at an Exhibition (feat. piano: Evgeny Kissin)

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Various Artists

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I have spent the latest week listening to Kissin's newest CD. And here are my thoughts:

Bach/Busoni:

Kissin's clear tone suits the work perfectly. His tone is sharp and the pedalling is held to moderation. The toccata is virtuosic at times and Kissin rses to sound as a whole organ. The adagio is slow and beautifuly colored by Kissin. Each phrase has weight and you sink in your chair listening to it. But the best is yet to come, the fugue. I wish Kissin would play more poliphonic music like fugues because he is a master at dragging forward inner voices. His fingers seem to have individual life and the lines eash gain their own existance. Listen to the beginning of the fugue, such clarity, focus and calm. The breath of tone in this work displayed by Kissin shows clearly his capability to make the piano sound like any other instrument he likes, organ, orchestra or what ever.

Glinka/Balakirev:

Small work I haven't heard elsewhere. Melancolic, slow and beautiful. An ok break between the two major works on the disc.

Mussorgsky:

Listening to Kissin led me into yet one Pictures-mania. So, there has been a lot of comparisons this week. I must say it straight out: genius! This is what I call a high class performance. In his last CD (Chopin: 2nd sonata, preludes) his tone got a bit to hard at times, and I was curious is he would try the power-path of Horowitz or the poeticism of Richter. I am glad he choose the latter, although I love Horowitz's version(s). Take for exaple the Bydlo. Yes, Horowitz is funny and exiting when he unleashes a thunderous left in the high climax. But such a force makes the bydlo more of a crasy bull than a slow, fat and lumpish ox, making heavy steps. Kissin hold back the banging and portraies the bydlo as slow but powerful force. The fast sections, like the market or the ballet of the chickens, sparkle with life. The grand gate of Kiev is magnificent, truly grand and noble.

Conclusion: A CD to treasure as it contains a stunnig Bach/Busoni and one of the very best pictures ever, arguably the best pictures for a long long time. Kissin is the successor to Richter and Horowitz in Mussorgsky, no doubt in my mind.

As much as I admire Kissin's pianism (and it is formidable here), there is really no better performance of "Pictures" than Mikhail Pletnev's. Kissin can dazzle, but Pletnev really does evoke a time, a place, a mood, a character that is more true than Kissin's. I don't know how to explain this, as it is a purely emotional response...which is what art is, I suppose. Having heard both performances and having been to Kiev (Kyiv, as the Ukrainians would prefer), it is clear to me that Pletnev paints a more realistic picture, so to speak.

Pletnev also gives us his remarkable piano transcription of Sleeping Beauty, which is a much more suitable companion to Pictures than Bach.

By the way, the Pletnev disc is titled "Russian Piano Music." Not very inventive or descriptive!