Anyone else here really dislike Evgeny Kissen?

[camille101]

The videos available of his teenage years reveal a much more poetic Evgeny than now.  I hear some very nice things from time to time with him, but his Chopin seems somewhat standardized and forced.  I prefer a bit of improvisatory spontaneity, in keeping with a good degree of the composer's intentions.  That said, when Horowitz changes things up and adds different dynamics that are justified in a completely different way, I don't complain!

[theodore]

Over ten years ago I attended a piano recital by Vladimir Pletnev. The 1st half seemed as though Pletnev was trying to impress the audience with his sheer virtuosity. However there was a less than an average amount of clapping as he left the stage at  the end of the 1st half the recital..

After a lengthy intermission Pletnev returned and played the second half with such insight and heart rendering poetry that he received a dozen curtain calls. Clearly, for Pletnev, he sensed that the audience was highly sophisticated and he followed suit with a complete reversal of his interpretations.

[cranston53]

Lang Lang is a virtuoso and consummate showman. He is glitz and glamour with a good deal of theatrical panache. He enters onto the stage like a WWF wrestler and has dry ice swirling around the piano legs while he plonks out some Liszt.

He is the most tasteful and elegant pianist, good God no. Is he fun, engaging and necessary, of course. You need these sorts of character to blow a bronx cheer in the direction of all the second rate bores who seem to think it's their position to say who and who should not be considered a viable pianist.

Kissin I like. I understand the criticism he recieves, but he has made some beautiful recordings over the years, especially Beethoven. He has also had an awfully strange upbringing, and a little generosity in his direction wouldn't go amiss.

And whoever was knocking Zimmerman is an utter twerp.

[pts1]

Personally, I dislike going to live concerts since I find them very distracting and artists most often do NOT give their best or true performances. The audience is NEVER quiet and always bothersome, and brings a very non-musical interference to the performance.

I guess I understand what Gould was saying about piano being an aural medium, and listening to records, or recordings is really my preferred method.

Having said that, I was very disappointed to listen to Kissen's recorded performance of the Franck: Prelude Chorale and Fugue

He simply seems to play through it with no thought or expression as to what the piece is about.

I really do not understand what all the furor is about concerning him.

If you hold Sokolov as a comparative standard of Russian artists, Kissen is not even in the same ball park IMO.

[jogoeshome]

Interestingly enough I think he has declined as a pianist since he entered the public eye. I think he peaked when he was maybe 25 or so.

I agree. I heard pieces from when he was a teenage and another one in 1997 and were amazing. I think he is emotionally burn out! Like he doesn't play with the enthusiasm he was suppose to or something. may be he's too picky about perfection... I don't know. Horowitz once said he didn't care if he hit a key wrong and I think he's right, or else you wont let yourself go.

[jogoeshome]

May I ask what is so bad about Lang Lang?

He's chinese political propaganda and nothing more. also, he plays western music without fully understanding it. imagine a nigerian in the beijing opera?? no matter how good he is with his fingers he never sounds "right".

[p2u_]

May I ask what is so bad about Lang Lang?

He's chinese political propaganda and nothing more. also, he plays western music without fully understanding it. imagine a nigerian in the beijing opera?? no matter how good he is with his fingers he never sounds "right".

Here's Lang Lang's Mendelssohn Concerto No. 1:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

If that doesn't sound "right", then I'd surely like to hear (and see) how you play it. Thanks in advance.

Paul

[daro]

He's chinese political propaganda and nothing more. also, he plays western music without fully understanding it. imagine a nigerian in the beijing opera?? no matter how good he is with his fingers he never sounds "right".

Yeah, imagine one of them there black people like Leontyne Price trying to sing Verdi or Mozart. No way she could've understood any of that. And that Englishman, Laurence Olivier, sure he was pretty good as Richard III, but did you ever hear him try and play a Dane like Hamlet? No matter how well he memorized the lines, it never sounded "right".

[rachmaninoff_forever]

He's chinese political propaganda and nothing more. also, he plays western music without fully understanding it. imagine a nigerian in the beijing opera?? no matter how good he is with his fingers he never sounds "right".

Dude his Appassionata is sooooooo kickass!  He's really a fantastic musician, but it's just that his bad performances get all the attention.

[cmg]

Yeah, I don't get the wholesale bashing of Lang Lang at all.  That Mendelssohn Concerto and the Beethoven posted above are spectacular playing.

But, he irritates some people. Why? Because, as an Asian, he's not supposed to be extroverted in concert demeanor and playing?

And the Kissin bashing is getting on my nerves.  For every "uninspiring" recording or performance you can name, I match with an extraordinary one. 

One dull performance does not a dull pianist make. 

Both of these men play like gods, if not consistently.  We forgave Horowitz, Rubinstein, etc., etc., their numerous off-moments on the stage and studio, didn't we?  We forgave Maria Callas when she had a bummer night and sounded like a screech owl in heat, didn't we?  And why?  Because no one is perfect.  Except, critics, of course.   

Get over it.  Lang Lang and Kissin are here to stay for very, very good reasons.