Evgeny Kissin
Friday 24.09.2021
Johann Sebastian Bach / Karl Tausig: Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Adagio in b minor, K.540
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata no 31 in A flat major, opus 110
Frédéric Chopin: 7 Mazurkas (opus 7 no 1, opus 24 no 1 & 2, opus 30 no 1 & 2, opus 33 no 3 & 4)
Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante Op.22
This was a spectacularly good recital. First of all, what a great feeling to be at the Megaron concert hall again, a favourite venue with superb acoustics.
Kissin was excellent in
Beethoven’s penultimate sonata (a work that I love dearly and regarding which I find it is very hard for performers to achieve the transcendent quality that the finale demands) and truly splendid in
Chopin. The transition from the last chords of Beethoven’s Op. 110 to Chopin’s Op. 7/1 Mazurka felt a little jarring, but the felicities that followed made us soon forget about it. If anything, Kissin’s light touch, kaleidoscopic colours and thoughtful phrasing made me again appreciate what beautiful works the Mazurkas really are (I almost never listen to them at home). He managed to elicit something transcendent in them, a fact which was surely felt by the audience, rapturously listening to them one after the other without in-between applause. A superb
Andante spianato and a joyous, euphorically transcendental
Grande Polonaise Brillante closed the program - several encores followed. It was a superb recital and the first time in ages I really enjoyed Chopin played live. Only vaccinated people were allowed to attend and I also noticed that, as in all concerts I’ve been to during the pandemic, the audience was utterly cough-free.
Yesterday, I attended
Marina Abramovich’s
Seven Deaths of Maria Callas at the
Greek National Opera. Narrowly missing a retrospective exhibition of her work a couple of years ago at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, I wanted to see this more out of curiosity for the concept than for anything else. The first part, seven arias performed by seven different singers - what a treat to have several favourite Greek sopranos participate in this avant-garde recital - while Abramovich lies on a (death)bed onstage and seven short films (starring Abramovich and Willem Dafoe) are cinematically projected to accompany the music, was, I found, very successful and moving. It also gave us an impressive glimpse of how a truly avant-garde opera production would use film as a truly integral part of the concept. The (much shorter) second part, acted by Abramovich herself, was more slow-going and felt lugubrious (perhaps by design) - the final image of her wearing an impossibly sparkly golden diva dress while
Maria Callas herself is heard singing was appropriately powerful.
Today, on with Khatia
Buniatishvili and more
Chopin. 😎
