Evgeny Kissin, Rachmaninov as catharsis

For Evgeny Kissin (Moscow, 51 years old) it all started with Bach.

The Russian-British-Israeli pianist's first hum, while still an 11-month-old baby, was the theme of the

, from the second notebook of

, to the astonishment of his parents.

He tells it in

, his autobiography compiled and edited by Marina Arshinova (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2017).

A book where he does not avoid any topic.

Through his pages, religious issues (the importance of being Jewish), sexual (his fascination with

, by Alex Comfort) and politics (his unconditional support for Georgia) parade through his pages, spun with particular narrative skill.

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The musical 2022 starts with a bang

There is also no shortage of literary confessions (his passion for poetry in

) and creative (a budding career as a composer encouraged by his friend Arvo Pärt).

And it includes copious details about well-known episodes of his biography, such as his famous collaboration with Herbert von Karajan, at age 17, at the Berlin Philharmonic's St. Silvester Concerto.

A memorable occasion, although not exempt from tensions to avoid the slow flow that the legendary maestro wanted to impose on

, by Tchaikovsky;

"I'm not your enemy," Karajan snapped at the young Kissin during a rehearsal.

The book is also extremely useful for understanding the aesthetic horizon of the pianist.

He soon defined his five favorite composers: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Brahms, although he always opted for Polish: “When I was not yet thirteen years old, I felt that there was a composer whose music was closer to me: it was Chopin”.

And his stylistic ideas have always been heavily influenced by the classic texts of the Soviet musicologist David A. Rabinovich, who rejected the virtuosity of Józef Hofmann and Vladimir Hórowitz and saw the future of the instrument in Sergei Rachmaninov and Ferruccio Busoni.

Evgeny Kissin during his performance at the National Auditorium, last Monday in Madrid.Rafa Martín/Ibermúsica

Kissin opened his recital in Madrid with Bach, yesterday, Monday, February 13, but in a piano transcription by Busoni, from the

.

A performance included in an international tour, where he also plays works by Mozart, Chopin and Rachmaninov, which started in Lisbon last Wednesday, and will only have one more performance in Spain: next Friday at the Palau de la Música in of the BCN Clàssics cycle.

But the pianist's annual visit to the Fundación Ibermúsica cycles, where he made his debut in Spain 35 years ago, once again filled the symphony hall of the National Auditorium, despite the fact that a hundred additional seats were added on stage for solidarity purposes. .

Already with the first whirlwinds of scales and cascades of arpeggios from the

, Kissin made his energetic and monumental Bach clear.

Far from any historicist concession, although heir to a powerful tradition that has its roots in the 19th century, the pianist opted for clarity to the detriment of any improvisational assignment.

And that solidity crystallized in an admirable construction of the fugue that he raised especially in the final part where Bach seems to emulate the bass of an organ.

He followed Mozart and his

, which Kissin played admirably, paying attention to every detail and repetition, while remaining faithful to a stiff classicist tradition.

Precisely, in his book he narrates a curious meeting with the famous critic Harold Schonberg where he encouraged him to read the composer's letters.

And it is possible that if the pianist consulted the letters of November 1777, where he talks about this sonata, he would play it in a much more human way.

A moment of the performance at the National Auditorium.Rafa Martín/Ibermúsica

Schonberg also had something else to say to Kissin: "Keep playing Chopin this way and don't change!"

And so it has been.

She proved it yesterday in her impressive rendition of

.

had initially been announced

, by Debussy, a novelty in his repertoire, the Russian pianist preferred to ensure with his infallible Chopin.

Wilhelm von Lenz recalls the composer's obsession with achieving the fundamental effect of his opening, with those opening triplets a question mysterious enough to elicit the energetic response in sumptuous chords.

Kissin played that question-answer admirably, in all its repetitions, and with amazing control of sound.

But he also shone in the tender cantilena of the second theme or suspended in the air the central section

.

An open grave interpretation, as Chopin himself explained to Von Lenz, where the risks compensate for any slightest inaccuracy;

if there was, it should even be celebrated.

After the break, the second half focused on Rachmaninov.

Kissin played a thirty-minute selection of preludes and

without a break.

He actually started it with the composer's own elaborate piano arrangement of his song

(

) where the evocation of nature is combined with the shadow of dissatisfaction.

Admirable versions of two preludes followed: from the virtuosic

and the nocturnal

.

But the recital stood out with the final selection of the

, that exaltation of technical skill justified for pictorial purposes.

After the sardonic and even humorous overtones of

, Kissin stressed the intense pain of

, which Respighi retitled

in His Orchestration.

He continued to polish the fantastic atmosphere of

, and he again raised the beautiful

, with fiery tone and climatic tension.

The pianist acknowledges in his book that when he plays this

he imagines Russia in 1917. In fact, the frantic and furious march of the

, was the last thing Rachmaninov wrote, before having to leave his homeland forever.

Kissin added three tips without leaving Rachmaninov that were quite a statement of intent.

Three pieces included in his first published collection for piano: the

.

and that he premiered, in December 1892, in the Ukrainian city of Kharkov, whose surroundings may be currently being bombarded by Putin's troops.

The pianist began by underlining the pleasant reverie of the

, as an evocation of life in peace.

He continued with that Spanish nod to the

, in clear allusion to his admired Alicia de Larrocha, to whom he dedicated this recital on her centenary.

And he closed his performance with the famous

, the final encore of all the composer's recitals, which Kissin endowed last night with a more somber and dramatic tone, sculpting each chord on the keyboard.

Rachmaninov as catharsis.

Ibermusic.

Arriaga series.

Season 2022/23

Works by Bach, Mozart, Chopin and Rachmaninov.

Yevgeny Kissin (piano).

National Auditorium, February 13.

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