Whats the deal with Kissin?

[Daevren]

I saw him alot in the best pianist alive topic. I thought he was some kind of old guy like Ashkenazy, Gilels some really big name.

I saw a list of piano performances, Kissin recital has a ticked price of 60 euro. Almost the double of some other guys. So I think "Yes, thats a big name alright."

So I look at his bio: "Debut in 2002" what!

I look at his recordings, only a handful. Whats the deal with this guy? I thought that it must be someone with a 30 year carreer but its only 2 and a half...


[edit]

Hmm, I just found out he made his debut in march 1984. Big difference. lol

[shasta]

Daevren, you had to have heard of Kissin!  He's the one who played both Chopin concertos in that famous Moscow concert in the mid-80's when he was 12 or so.  RCA recorded it live.  

Very young sound (obviously), very crisp, sparkling Chopin.  Much more refreshing than the way-too-dramatic-and-worldly Ax (in my opinion).  

[chopinsetude]

I believe Kissin started out as a normal young person who craved music and it eventually took over his life.

At some point he became socially inept.  I think that the musical immersion that he set himself in completely robbed him of any human-quality that he may have had in another lifestyle.  There are photos of him as a child and as an adult - completely different look in his eyes.  I wonder if music is to blame?

My wife and i watched the Gift of Music the other day (a documetary about kissin) and he is a pretty weird bird, great Chopin pianist, although i don't like his Rachmaninov.  

His recording of the Raindrop prelude is very nice.  My favorite version, even over Ashkenazy and Horowitz.

[JK]

Great hair!!!!

[thracozaag]

Daevren, you had to have heard of Kissin!  He's the one who played both Chopin concertos in that famous Moscow concert in the mid-80's when he was 12 or so.  RCA recorded it live.  

Very young sound (obviously), very crisp, sparkling Chopin.  Much more refreshing than the way-too-dramatic-and-worldly Ax (in my opinion).  

 That's a wonderful recording; I wish he played like that now.

koji (STSD)

[bernhard]

Kissin is a superb pianist with a dashing hairstyle, and whoever criticises him is either going bald or cannot play as well as he can .

[shasta]

 That's a wonderful recording; I wish he played like that now.

koji (STSD)

Me too.  By far my favorite interpretation of both concertos.

[Spatula]

Me too.  By far my favorite interpretation of both concertos.

Indeed, that recording from a tiny 12 year old at the 1984 Legendary Moscow Concerto...man now that was a performance.  

He did 3 encores after already "exhausting" 2 concertos and the crowd went wild (or so I think from hearing the applause) that cut right before his last note in his minor waltz to close the evening.

Now that's a pianist (who talks like Rowan Atkinson)

[Shagdac]

I think he plays pretty well. Have a few of his CD's and really enjoy his Liszt Spanish Rhapsody as well as
Widmung.

S

[zemos]

well, i have a video of him playing the 3rd piano concerto of rachmaninov. i don't like it very much.. (and he played the easier cadence of the two...) but then again, maby i'm a bit of a snob, after seeing the Horowitz recording in video so many times (:

[cziffra]

There's no doubt that this guy has a tremendous facility, possibly one of the greatest in history, but when he sits down to play a piece of, say, Rachmaninoff- what passion is he expressing?  I just can't reconcile the contrast between his immense ability to express himself and the sheer abscence of anything to express.  i can't imagine he's had any great traumas or painful relationships.  His most taxing personal misfortune is maybe his occasional struggle with Yiddish poetry, but otherwise- he's simply too inhuman.

Am i wrong?

[Motrax]

Do you need to endure some great tragedy in order to be expressive? I too believe Kissin is not particularly musical, but not because he's had an easy life (which is also arguable).

We're born with the spectrum of human emotion. You don't need outside influences to express that which lies within.

[chopinsetude]

His most taxing personal misfortune is maybe his occasional struggle with Yiddish poetry, but otherwise- he's simply too inhuman.

Am i wrong?

You nailed it.

Love the hair though, and I'd trade some of my DNA and possibly some redundant internal organs to be able to play like him - although he is not near the top of my fav's list.

[dlu]

There's no doubt that this guy has a tremendous facility, possibly one of the greatest in history, but when he sits down to play a piece of, say, Rachmaninoff- what passion is he expressing?  I just can't reconcile the contrast between his immense ability to express himself and the sheer abscence of anything to express.  i can't imagine he's had any great traumas or painful relationships.  His most taxing personal misfortune is maybe his occasional struggle with Yiddish poetry, but otherwise- he's simply too inhuman.

Am i wrong?

Are you saying that youth (like moi) cannot express themselves adequately simply because they haven't say....gone thruogh a divroce of something really traumatic like that (that they have nothing to express!!!) which I find pretty ridiculous (I think we have more to express actually....) I am dreading the day when I sit at the piano as an adult and nothing comes out. Or are you refering to....well....I don't know....what are you refering to.....?

[xvimbi]

Are you saying that youth (like moi) cannot express themselves adequately simply because they haven't say....gone thruogh a divroce of something really traumatic like that (that they have nothing to express!!!) which I find pretty ridiculous (I think we have more to express actually....) I am dreading the day when I sit at the piano as an adult and nothing comes out. Or are you refering to....well....I don't know....what are you refering to.....?

This is really a topic for another thread, but let me say this: IMO, someone who didn't have a certain experience is indeed less well qualified to express the associated feelings than someone who did have the experience. It doesn't really have to do with being young, but simply with having had the experience or not.

It is the same with writing an essay. How likely is it that a 16-year old can write a deep, insightful essay about unconditional love, losing a loved one, the debilitating pains of getting older and seeing one's facilities slowly vanish, and similar things.

Still, most people can somehow associate with a situtaion even if they haven't experienced it themselves. This may result in a decent interpretation of a piece, or it may not.

On the other hand, having had such experiences does not do any good, if they haven't been analyzed and understood, or if the technical facilities to express the associated feelings are missing.

When I listen to young people playing highly emotional pieces such as Liszt's Liebestraeume No. 3, Satie's Gymnopedies, or many of the later Beethoven Sonatas and chamber music in general, I am often surprised at how well it is executed, and I am often completely appalled at how flat it can sound. The same is true for adults playing those pieces.

[scarbo87]

his latest recording (schubert and liszt) show him to have matured a lot

[scarbo87]

his latest recording (schubert and liszt) show him to have matured a lot

[scarbo87]

how the hell did that show up twice....

[aki]

I believe Kissin started out as a normal young person who craved music and it eventually took over his life.

At some point he became socially inept.  I think that the musical immersion that he set himself in completely robbed him of any human-quality that he may have had in another lifestyle.  There are photos of him as a child and as an adult - completely different look in his eyes.  I wonder if music is to blame?

Well I don't know much about his life, anyways, what's wrong with him?

[chopinsetude]

Well I don't know much about his life, anyways, what's wrong with him?

He's nutty.  The high school chess club wouldn't let him join, they thought he was too nerdy

Nah, he's a nice guy.  I have a DVD in which he was interviewed for 20 minutes about his childhood piano experiences. Evidently he dove in with both feet and never looked back.  At age 5 he WROTE some peices that It would take me a week to master TODAY.

eric

[stefano]

im a huge Kissin fan, i think that he can his personality is a bit missing, but everything he needs to say is in his playing. its like all of the emotion he would put into normal life is drained into his performance.  I think he plays extremely musical, he played the Chopin fantasy for Karajan and Karajan cried he thought it was so nice! Who else in the world can do that! and to the other person who was talking about his Rach 3. he actually chose the more difficult cadenza!! and its live, he doesnt miss a note, and is very well controlled musically.  I agree that he is one of the worlds top pianists. Everyone has their own opinion, but to say that he is not musical at all is a crime.

[Floristan]

I see he's recently recorded the Schubert B-flat major sonata and the Brahms Op. 5 sonata (I think it's Op. 5 -- F minor).  Has anyone heard these recordings and can comment on them?

[Spatula]

I can't help but giggle when I hear him speak, he'd win hands down for a Rowan Atkinson impersonation.

[tocca]

Are you saying that youth (like moi) cannot express themselves adequately simply because they haven't say....gone thruogh a divroce of something really traumatic like that (that they have nothing to express!!!) which I find pretty ridiculous (I think we have more to express actually....) I am dreading the day when I sit at the piano as an adult and nothing comes out. Or are you refering to....well....I don't know....what are you refering to.....?

 

From my own experience (i'm 41 now) i think i could express myself in the music very well as a teenager, without having experienced anything special.
But i haven't lost any of it during the years, everything i felt/could express back then is still within me. You don't feel different really, i'm still a teenager inside somehow. But with 41 years of experience!

You're saying: "I am dreading the day when I sit at the piano as an adult and nothing comes out."
Forget that! It won't happen. Period!

If you can express yourself as young, you will be able to later. And you will have added new feelings to express... that's the way life works.