Friday night, I had the immense pleasure of seeing the magic of Evgeny Kissin for the second straight night. Performing none other than the monumental, Piano Concerto No. 2 (Brahms).
To say that it was a success would be both an understatement and being too generous, for it was a tale of two performances. The second performance, infinitely finer than the first. Although I feel like pehraps I might be too harsh on him, i think that it is the kind of piece of music which one needs to judge with the ultimate harshness. The music is epic, heroic, tragic and it is the music of blood.
The first night, Thursday Oct. 2nd, 2003 :
The first movement was done ‘nicely’ nothing spectacular and i actually believe i might have heard about 3 slipups. What also bothered me was i felt that the general tempo was somewhat slower than should have been. Then came the second movement, the heart and soul of the entire piece. This was what really disappointed me, not that it was done wrong, but it wasnt done right.
However the 3rd movement was done fantastically, and then 4th was great. However because of the 2nd movement i was left unfulfilled. As my dear friend Wolfgang described: YOU DONT PLAY BRAHMS LIKE CHOPIN OR SCHUMANN. Indeed. But … and a mighty but it is, after soaking up the attention of the audience for 3 rounds of a standing ovation he promptly awed every single attendant with the most fanastic performance i have ever seen of the first hungarian dance of Brahms. Sheer, pure, unadulterated virtuosity. However as a whole the night was a bit of a disappointment because of the ruined 1st and 2nd movements. I felt let down because perhaps i had expected too much from him, and because i admire and love him so much.
The second night, Friday Oct 3rd, 2003 :
Thanks to cheap tickets i was able to attend the same show the following night, except now i was seated in the 3rd row from the piano, Friday October 3, 2003. From the very beginning, the concerto sounded different. He was definitely not playing the way he was the night before. There was more hop in his pianistic step so to speak.
Then came the key 2nd movement. As it began i gave a shake to my head: dammit he is playing the piece like a thinking man, and not with his heart. Then, a most peculiar thing happened, around a third of the way through the movement. It felt as if i felt a sudden jolt up my spine, and was forced to close my eyes. As i closed my eyes i started to feel immersed in the atmosphere of what the 2nd movement should be. I cannot describe it in any way other than saying that by the end of the 2nd movement i was uncontrolably on the verge of tears. Then came the 3rd movement, even more moving than yesterday and by the time the piece was over i felt elated and as if i was floating. Redemption indeed. I do not know what happened one third of the way thorugh the 2nd movement but he finally put his passion into music. And to top if all off, as an encore (once again after 3 rounds of ovations) he sat down and rendered every single soul awestruck as he displayed his brilliant virtuosity in Capricio No. 8 by mendhelsson.
All in all, two of the greatest nights.
