1. Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.2 in G Minor, Op.16 - Andantino 2. Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.2 in G Minor, Op.16 - Scherzo 3. Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.2 in G Minor, Op.16 - Intermezzo 4. Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.2 in G Minor, Op.16 - Finale 5. Piano Concerto No.3 in C Major, Op.26 - Allegro, ma non troppo 6. Piano Concerto No.3 in C Major, Op.26 - Tema & Variation
Like hearing the works for the very first time... Submitted on: 2009-06-30
...and a VERY GOOD first time hearing.
The orchestra and the soloist are very well balanced and nuanced.
Kissin's pianism is not just staggering as Volodos or whoever...it is eloquent yet subtle, sophisticated yet naturalistic, well-controlled yet very much alive. In short, I could NOT imagine a better performance of these two pieces on the part of the soloist.
As for the much controversial Vladimir Ashkenazy, I find that here he is in top form, and collaborates with Kissin as hand in glove.
The sound? Very acceptable, if not outright on top, given that these two are live performances (I don't think top artists like Kissin would even think of any trickery in this respect).
The recording here gives me a chance to love these works. I have NEVER learned to love them before (AND I have already seriously heard more than half a dozen of recordings for each).
No fears, Kissin is masterful in Prokofiev Submitted on: 2009-06-11
What in the world would a newcomer to this CD, or to Amazon's review system, take away from the posts so far? Certainly not a coherent picture musically. The windy postings in the one- and five-star category are unusually eccentric. The blogosphere unleashes strange minds.
Approaching this CD without prejudice, I'm in agreement with Mr. Behr, who points to vivid, visceral recorded sound -- the piano is caught with real depth and impact -- and Kissin's extraordinary technical prowess. In terms of keyboard mastery, we are at the very highest echelon, the territory of Horowitz and Pollini. Kissin is perfectly at ease in the Prokofiev Second, making child's play of passages that are often banged out with effort. Prokofiev's keyboard idiom embraced motor rhythms and the percussive side of the piano's range, as did Bartok. The Second takes his modernism to a farther extreme than any other of the five concertos, which accounts for its neglect, both in the past and present. Kissin is less bombastic than most, and his mastery over the idiom cannot be faulted. He may be dubious in Beethoven, but in Russian music he's unassailable.
The Third Cto. is Prokofiev's most popular by far, and the range of great recordings extends back as far as William Kapell in the early Fifties to Gary Graffman in the Sixties (with George Szell as a razor-sharp but elegant accompanist) and Argerich among contemporaries. Kissin re4turns to the work for the third time here, competing with his younger self on RCA and DG. Both of those recordings were powerful, elegant, elegiac, and witty, capturing the shifting moods of a mercurial work. I was a bit afraid that he would lose his earlier lightness and brightness, given that Kissin's development has been in the direction of barnstorming and heavy-handedness.
There's no doubt that this reading is a barnstormer, not to mention that it's built on a somewhat grander scale than the earlier ones (adding over 3 min. in timing to the RCA account). What we've gained is a sense of overwhelming technical command, abetted by EMI's close-up miking of the piano, which thunders away almost frighteningly. The theme and variations that are the heart of the concerto exhibit a breathtaking range from delicate pointillism to sinuous melody, and the most demanding passagework whisks by without banging. Harking back to Kapell, I don't hear as much sheer vivacity, and Argerich is more volatile and abandoned. (Richter never left a recording of either concerto, by the way, commercially or through pirates of live concerts.) One reason that Kissin so dominates this performance is that Ashkenazy takes a back seat with a straightforward accompaniment that is fine in its way but rather faceless. However, the orchestra plays gorgeously throughout.
I've taken extra space to describe a performance that previous postings have warped to fit the reviewer's prejudice. If you want Kissin's Prokofiev third, all his recordings are top choices. It's really the pairing that will determine which one fits your collection.
extraordinary intellectual, emotional and technical power and thrilling brilliance Submitted on: 2009-06-09
In the divide between 5 star and 2-3 star ratings, I am in the the 5 star camp, though for somewhat independent reasons.
It states clearly on the CD that it was recorded in concert. I heard the
concerti in London and Birmingham. I know Evgeny Kissin also played them
elsewhere. So, while we do not know what was recorded where, we do know
that the recordings were live in concert. It makes no sense for EMI to misrepresent that, and with his painstaking integrity, Mr Kissin would never approve it.
Sometimes live performances can sound a little hollow or flat when recorded live, and there may be coughing, applause or other noise. These recordings are just the music, beautifully >recorded with great immediacy, and played with extraordinary intellectual, emotional and technical power and thrilling brilliance.
I love the spirited energy of the performances and the way the pianist expressed that with a lyrical late romantic roundness of the sound. I certainly like other performances of these works too, starting with Sergei Prokofiev himself, and including Messrs Vladimir Ashkenazy and Grigory Sokolov. As with Mr Kissin's Beethoven cycle, my only reservation is about the orchestral accompaniment. That does not affect my rating overall because the soloist's playing is so terrific, just as I would not want Prokofiev's own performance any less because of the orchestral support he received from the London Symphony under Piero Coppola. Here, while I think the orchestral support is ok, the more I listen to these performances, the more I wish they had the energy to match the support of the Chicago Symphony under Andrew Davis for the soloist's Beethoven cycle, or the unreleased Brahms concerti with the Boston Symphony under James Levine, which were wonderfully matched musically, and I suppose a pairing with the Berlin Philharmonic could be interesting. I am glad to have Mr Kissin's performances on this CD, which I think Prokofiev would probably very much too, and am happy to give it a 5-star recommendation.
(+) A Sadly Apathetic Tea Time that Should have been So Much Better Submitted on: 2009-06-07
Anticipation was high for Kissin's Beethoven Concertos release of October last year. But to me, opening the package containing the newly released Prokofiev Concertos disc resembled a good Christmas Eve 20 years ago.* The Beethoven Concertos were partly disappointing; the two greatest Prokofiev Piano Concertos, regrettably, are much more than that.
Indeed, I do worship the Third Concerto--especially the ingenious first movement. That said, the Second Concerto may be the greatest ever written for the instrument--at least the most boldly original and atmospheric. This is certainly not a widespread view, which also becomes evident when considering the greatest champions of this monstrous concerto. The greatest recorded versions come from 'niche' pianists, largely unknown in other repertoire: (1) Gutierrez--the best balance between atmosphere and memorable dazzle, spectacularly supported by the Royal Concertgebouw, Järvi and the Chandos engineers; (2) Toradze--the most alluring and at the same time thrilling version that occasionally goes over the top in extreme tempos, dynamics and accents, also benefiting from marvelous support from Gergiev, the Kirov Orchestra and Philips's engineers (Prokofiev: The Five Piano Concertos); (3) Krainev--a good solution between Gutierrez and Toradze, if less spectacular and personal, and with less memorbable support from conductor (Kitaenko), orchestra (RSO Frankfurt) and engineers (Teldec--Prokofiev: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-5).
Kissin in the early 1990s seemed virtually ideal to produce a great Prokofiev Second. Indeed, his Sixth Sonata was spectacularly accomplished--he was barely 16 caught live in Tokyo 1987 (Evgeny Kissin In Tokyo) and still a teenager (19) caught live at Carnegie Hall in 1990 (Carnegie Hall Debut Concert)--not to mention his unbelievable Etude encore (Op 2/3 at Carnegie Hall). His Prokofiev First and Third with Abbado in 1994 did earn him a Gramophone Award nomination in 1995, although they to this reviewer were very good rather than truly great (Prokofiev: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 3).
I have no doubt that Kissin may be the greatest living piano player caught at the right moment. This evidently occurred in August 2004 when he recorded the greatest-ever versions of Scriabin's Third Sonata and Stravinsky's 3 Petrushka Movements, saturated with the most gorgeous rubato and thrilling passagework conceivable (Scriabin: Sonata No. 3; Five Preludes; Medtner: Sonata Reminiscenza; Stravinsky: Three Movements from Pétrouchka); the Grammy Award it won in 2006 was most well-deserved. Without the consistent technical perfection of Kissin's playing, it would be hard to believe the same pianist is at work in these Prokofiev Concertos.
Vladimir Ashkenazy lost his sense of spontaneity decades ago; the Philharmonia lost its top-tier position even further back; EMI's engineers stopped producing first-class sound some time in the early digital era. This is all old news, but for some reason, the EMI managers simply seem to have ignored it. With Kissin being the label's biggest exclusive piano star (I do not believe Argerich has signed any exclusive agreement), this mismanagement is truly a shame. (Pairing Andsnes with the BPO, Jansons and Pappano appears a waste by comparison!) Well, all the same, this is probably only my trying to find excuses. Instead, let's deal the real beef...
Recorded live (although there is not a trace to support that claim--neither a single cough nor a single slip, which, on the other hand, is very much a feat in itself!), Kissin's technique cannot be rivaled. Comparison can readily be made in the Second with Li's recent rendition, which remains at least one level less effortless in its execution (Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No 2; Ravel: Piano Concerto in G Major). My recent review of that disc often comes back to Li and Ozawa's failure to bring out the suspense which is so central both to the first and fourth movements. With Kissin and Ashkenzy, it is the other way around; the ample suspense does not lead to much at all. Another way of describing it is that one is waiting and waiting, but the thrill hinted at in the beginning just never materialises. This music is very edgy; what Kissin and Ashkenazy do is to smooth things out so much as to virtually disguise any bumps or sharp curves, which goes for dynamics, tempos, rhythms and above all accents. There is no sense of risk-taking here--as if driving on a rally track with a solid Rolls-Royce.
Alas, things do get even worse in the Third Concerto. I have never heard a more feeble account of this work, which is inherently bursting of bustle and dazzle. There are so many opportunities for bravura display as well as tender poetry. With Kissin and Ashkenzy, everything sounds about the same--nice, polished and jolly, but ultimately maddingly dull--even apathetic! For instance, in the first movement, what about the resounding sub-bass A octaves at 2:06--no, barely accentuated; what about the unison pre-recapitulation scales at 6:19--no, Kissin has tea; and what about the orchestral march onslaught at 8:03 and 8:13--nope, Ashkenazy and the orchestra do not seem to want to disrupt the pleasant tea time.
The theme of the artwork for this release is white--or rather colourlessness, which aptly fits the contents. I do not know if Kissin is about to join Ashkenzy full-time in his overly polite Englishness; indeed, this disc is likely to be anonymously praised by the British reviewers--a candidate for the Gramophone Record of the Year perhaps? So, why the plus then? Because I still will not give up on Kissin--especially not in Scriabin and Rachmaninov, where his skills still seem to be able to produce great pianism.
In order for a great Concerto to be widely recognised as great, it needs great ambassadors. However, for some reason, the Prokofiev Second appears elusive to those great pianists who have tackled it (Kissin is joined here by Ashkenazy and Demidenko). Since Argerich seems unwilling to take it on, my hope for a great 21st-century version remains with Volodos and Sudbin.
REFERENCES: Second--Gutierrez/Järvi (Prokofiev: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3); Third--Argerich/Abbado (Prokofiev, Ravel: Piano Concertos, etc / Martha Argerich)
* FYI, in Sweden, we always open the gifts in the late afternoon on Christmas Eve.
Kissin/Ashkenazy versus Prokofiev Submitted on: 2009-06-06
I rejoiced listening to Evgeny Kissin in this quintessential Russian repertoire. And a full recommendation from UK's pre-eminent critic finished convincing me to purchase this CD. But this time, contrary to the rave review offered by Norman Lebrecht, the product is hardly an "absorbing record" and even less of an "absolutely indispensable" nature.
We shall of course talk about the music and what Kissin and Ashkenazy do of it, to it. But we shall first turn our attention toward those wonderful people at EMI who produced this marvel of technology.
Indeed this "thing" possesses unique features that make it technologically advanced: for instance, it is one of the rare concert recordings that are devoid of any cough or audience noises! Applauses are inexistent. Not once the usual sneeze comes troubling your enjoyment of this marketed "public" performance! In itself this is good of course BUT it's not all. The orchestra sound is also quite special: it never is wider than the width of the piano! As if the entire orchestra was fitted behind Kissin and his gorgeous tone Hamburg Steinway as a rectilinear grouping of musicians. Listening to this canned stuff, you'd never imagine a stage with a piano surrounded by an orchestra. Indeed a marvel of recording prowess! Even better, one feels the radio producers that undoubtedly will fry this one over and over will love it: the compression is perfect for boom box and FM radio since just as in pop music, the sound level hovers within safe boundaries, up during pianissimos and down during fortissimos and the balance of the "song" is centered on the lead piano/voice. So here we have a XXI century recording, a perfect negation of all what Mercury Living Presence would have stood for, a complete fakery of stage and dynamics! EMI engineers and producers: congratulations!
So how about the music making now? It is worth the sound!
Concerto No. 2: Evgeny Kissin's virtuosity is now becoming his worst enemy. There is little imagination at work here and indeed too much... liberty that is, with the text. Prokofiev knew what he wanted, he wrote it down and that is quite different from Mr. Kissin's pretense. Why is it the ego of these instrumentists cannot bear to simply play a melody when the music demands just that? Why do they always believe their little mannerism will set their interpretation apart lifting them to genius? Do they truly think they are above the composer? So why is Mr. Kissin thinking his overriding rubato would add to the architecture of the monumental first movement? Well it does not and in fact it simply destroys it. It does not matter to him because those are notes that can be "interpreted" as opposed to images of a story well told. He does not know how to do simple -not simplistic as his boring repeats indicate-. The second movement fares better but the orchestra soup lacks pulsation... The third mvt. is prosaic and the culmination of this total lack of lyricism transforms the last mvt. sublime moment into a heavy, clunky, insensitive, brushed over tune. Kissin runs on empty and Ashkenazy has the delicatesse of a jackhammer!
Piano Concerto No. 3: the same strange unobtrusive orchestra goes from sections to sections, rather abruptly in some cases, serving the over-complicated contortions of the soloist. And repeats are done in the same way since no imagination is at work here: this is the Monty Python sketch of the "I say Patato, you say potato" song in all its splendor. A nice accent that alone would have added a twist to the plot is repeated, identical and thus loses its meaning. It's all very much insistent not at all subtle... A rather percussive Kissin cannot seem to get the Hamburg Steinway to rock anywhere near where Prokofiev demands. A New York Steinway would have offered more intensity in those pieces. And the gorgeous second mvt. or the lyric theme of the third? Well just a quick work, caricatural, not felt. Very little dialogue with the various sections of the orchestra can be detected. This is the art of representation not of the transformation. No story was told but hey since you bought the product...
Indeed this is an artistic regression for this great pianist compared to his 1993 performance of the Third in NYC that I attended and the EMI manipulated recording is a disgrace showing profound disrespect to classical music lovers and concertgoers. This product is a fake from start to end: fake music making, fake emotion and fake recording! Let's give it what it deserves: fake sales!
Like hearing the works for the very first time...
(+) A Sadly Apathetic Tea Time that Should have been So Much Better
Kissin/Ashkenazy versus Prokofiev