Historic Russian
Archives announces the cover of
Brilliant’s four CD box set. Phew, that’s
some going considering that Kissin was
born in 1971 and the earliest recordings
here date from 1983, even given the
tautology of an Historic Archive. In
fact this set of discs contains fireworks,
disappointment and peculiarity in almost
equal measure.
The least valuable
disc is the first which gives us a gestural
and external Tchaikovsky No 1 with Gergiev
at his least interesting and a ridiculous
Shostakovich No 1, about which I’m afraid
it’s best not to dwell, so absurdly
slow is the opening piano statement
in a recording which is more pantomime
than performance. The second disc continues
the concerto theme with recordings of
what Brilliant purports to be the famous
27 March 1984 Chopin Concertos concert
with Kitaenko conducting the Moscow
Philharmonic. It sounded wrong to me,
horn fluffs, muffled sound, a distinctly
different opening tempo for the Allegro
maestoso of the E minor etc. I then
listened to this disc side by side with
the RCA recording and my doubts were
confirmed. It is a live concert, true,
but it’s not the one as advertised and
perhaps Brilliant could let us know
where they obtained the tapes (they
cite Pipeline Music USA).
The rest is better.
His Études Symphoniques though
sometimes far too forthright and lacking
discretion still heralds the promise
– announces the established promise
I should say – of potentially a major
Schumann player. For me, as yet, Kissin
is a provisional player, what Beecham
in another context described as a promissory
note, and though much here is astonishing
there are moments too of unease. Churlish
though to denigrate the Liszt and Schumann
disc which is the highlight of the set.
One weakness of his earlier self is
still evident today and that’s his harsh
and hard tone (listen to Waldesrauschen)
though Widmung atones with its excitement
and mastery. The final disc brings more
Chopin in repertoire that has been rerecorded.
The Sonata is not as comprehensively
successful as it has become though even
in 1984 his Fantasie bore the general
outlines of the later traversals. It’s
necessary to remind oneself, for all
the strictures, that when he recorded
it he was eleven years of age. The playing
is of course staggering for a child,
as were the even runs in the Chopin
concertos and the animating left hand
accents there and elsewhere.
Until the provenance
of the Chopin Concerto disc is established
I would exercise caution with this box,
even at its tempting price, as Kissin’s
early Russian recordings have been pretty
much supplanted by his RCA discs. His
recent London performances have shown
alarming inconsistencies in his playing
and the circus that surrounds him can
do little to inspire confidence. This
box faithfully mirrors those sometimes
perverse idiosyncrasies.
Jonathan Woolf