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Ludwig van Beethoven: Moonlight Sonata / Prelude / Themes by Paganini

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s

Artist: Ludwig van Beethoven
Title: Moonlight Sonata / Prelude / Themes by Paganini
Released: 1998
Label: RCA Records
Time: 57:24
Producer(s): Jay David Saks
Appears with:
Category: Classic
Rating: ******.... (6/10)
Media type: CD
Purchase date:  2001.11.10
Price in €: 18,17
Web address: www.classicalmus.com

 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


Ludwig van BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 14, op. 27/2, "Moonlight / Mondschein" Sonata
[1] Adagio sostenuto - 6:14
[2] Allegretto - 2:15
[3] Presto agitato - 7:02

Césare FRANCK: Prélude, Choral, et Fugue
[4] Prélude - 4:59
[5] Choral - 6:17
[6] Fugue - 6:41

Johannes BRAHMS: Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Op. 35
Book I:
[7] Theme - 0:25
[8] Variation I - 0:23
[9] Variation II - 0:26
[10] Variation III - 0:25
[11] Variation IV - 1:05
[12] Variation V - 0:48
[13] Variation VI - 0:23
[14] Variation VII - 0:25
[15] Variation VIII - 0:26
[16] Variation IX - 1:21
[17] Variation X - 1:37
[18] Variation XI - 1:46
[19] Variation XII - 1:26
[20] Variation XIII - 0:33
[21] Variation XIV - 1:43

Book II:
[22] Variation I - 0:44
[23] Variation II - 0:35
[24] Variation III - 0:29
[25] Variation IV - 1:05
[26] Variation V - 0:23
[27] Variation VI - 0:21
[28] Variation VII - 0:18
[29] Variation VIII - 0:28
[30] Variation IX - 1:00
[31] Variation X - 0:49
[32] Variation XI - 0:25
[33] Variation XII - 1:20
[34] Variation XIII - 1:08
[35] Variation XIV - 1:19

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


EVGENY KISSIN - Piano

TONY FAULKNER - Recording Engineer
CHRISTIANE ORTO - Editing
CARL TALBOT - Editing
DOLLY WILLIAMSON - A&R Direction
RICHARD DOMBROWSKI - Art Direction
HEINER SANWALD - Piano Technician
SERGEY BERMENIEW - Cover Photo
CARLO CABALLERO - Liner Notes

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1998 CD RCA 09026-68910-2



Liner Notes:

When the 19th century critic Heinrich Rellstab linked the first movement of Beethoven's Sonata, Op. 27 No. 2, to the image of a boat being rowed across Lake Lucerne in moonlight, he offered a personal translation of abstract music. But he was also taking a cue from Beethoven's subtitle, "sonata, almost a fantasy," for "fantasy" originally referred to the ability to form descriptive mental images. Rellstab's image and the nickname "moonlight," of course, date from ten years after Beethoven's death and cannot be linked to the composer's intentions. But for the romantic generation, external imagery-moonlight, rowboats, or leafy bowers — mattered less than the idea that Beethoven had filtered a private impression through his own inner feeling and in so doing had invested his music with the power to evoke original impressions in every sensitive listener.

Composed in 1801, this work soon become the most popular of Beethoven's sonatas and remains so today. In both of the fantasy-sonatas of Op. 27, Beethoven experimented with the relative weight of the movements so as to transform the traditional presentation. In the Second Sonata we have, in fact, an early example of Beethoven's tendency, in his large-scale works, to give weight to the lost movement rather than to the first. The finale is by far the biggest of the three movements: a full-fledged sonata form with a substantial coda. The first movement, in contrast, has nothing to do with sonata form; rather, its continuous figuration, ranging freely over the keyboard, puts one in mind of the prelude. To this eighteenth-century tradition Beethoven brings a startling intensity of expression. A plaintive duet between the treble and bass persists across the movement, and when the bass has the last word, we are in darkness. After such introspective music, we are surprised to encounter a minuet and trio whose syncopations amble forth so cheerfully. The finale returns to minor, and the restrained intensity of the first movement at lost explodes: the composer gives full latitude to a rage whose cause we cannot know.

The full title of Brahms's Op. 35, Studien für Pianoforte: Variationen über ein Therma von Paganini (1862-63), suggests a double destination. These are not only variations for the public hall but also studies for private use. Brahms's presentation, in two books of fourteen variations each, invites the pianist to confront a range of technical challenges according to a personal regimen. In the hands of a first-rate interpreter who knows how to bring out the characteristic qualities of each piece, the Paganini Variations make for rewarding listening.

Except in his earliest works, Brahms took the harmonic chassis of the chosen theme as the basis for inventing variations. The bass was his law, while the tune of the original theme was secondary. In a letter of 1876, he distinguished between this traditional art and the more modern "fantasia variation," which plays fast and loose with the harmonic and periodic structure of the theme. Nonetheless, Brahms is not slavish in his adherence to the original harmonic structure, and in both books he clinches the final variation with a coda in three or four parts whose free extensions fairly rank them as "fantasias" in Brahms's own terms.

Ever sensitive to nuances of genre and style, Brahms chose to recognize his source, a caprice for violin, in the character of some of his variations, In the third variation of the first book, as in the eighth of the second, he adapts violinistic textures to the keyboard. He also remembers that the caprice is a genre of wit and the unexpected. Certainly, the acciaccature of the sixth variation in the second book are mirthful, and the closing variation and coda in the second book might themselves be considered a series of four short caprices, each one freer than the lost. We find extreme contrasts, too, where Brahms follows the delicate harmonic tendrils of the twelfth variation, his most beautiful and subtle, with the bearish humor of the thirteenth. In the seventh variation of the second book the complexity of Brahms's metrical technique approaches self-parody. The superimposition of three distinct rhythmic patterns in this cross-eyed creature is astonishing, but it tumbles to an abrupt halt. The casual ending indicates that the composer knew what he was about.

After a youthful career as a virtuoso pianist, César Franck composed little for his own instrument until he was sixty-two. The Prélude, Choral et Fugue (1884) was one of four large-scale compositions with which he broke his pianistic silence. The style of the Prélude is original, though the influence of Schumann may be discerned in the way the melody is offset from the figuration. The central Choral, however, virtually reinvents its genre. Hearing the first phrases, we may well wonder how Franck could possibly have attached the name "chorale" to such snaky music, which wavers between E-Flat Major and C Minor. Soon, sumptuous chords arpeggiated across four octaves make it clear that the chorale proper, with its failing fourths and strong bass, has emerged. The convoluted phrase at the start provided an element of contrast. At the end of the Choral, an interlude in quicker tempo modulates back to the home key of B Minor and effects a transition into the Fugue. Rather than articulating the start of the Fugue with an accented beat, Franck allows the interlude to "bleed" directly into the fugal subject — a strange, disorienting effect. The fugue itself has nothing Bachian about it, rather, it is a late nineteenth-century chromatic fantasy that only occasionally bothers with counterpoint. After a whirling cadenza, the figuration and rhythm of the Prélude return, and eventually the chorale wafts magically into the treble. The masterstroke comes with the further addition of the fugal subject beneath these two elements. This complex texture achieves a three-layered synthesis of the entire work, which ends in an unclouded B Major.

CARLO CABALLERO

Evgeny Kissin was born in Moscow in October 1971 and began to play and improvise on the piano at the age of two, At six, he entered the Moscow Gnessin School of Music where he was a student of Anna Pavlovna Kantor, with whom he continues his studies to this day. Kissin came to international attention in March 1984 when, at age 12, he performed the two Chopin Concerti in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory with the Moscow State Philharmonic under the direction of Dmitri Kitaenko. He made his western European debut in 1987 at the Berlin Festival and has subsequently concertized widely throughout Europe to sold-out houses. Kissin's first appearances in the U.S. took place in the autumn of 1990 when, within 10 days, he performed the two Chopin Concerti with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta and gave the first recital of Carnegie Hall's centenary season. This sold-out Carnegie Hall recital debut was recorded live for RCA Red Seal and was subsequently nominated for a Grammy award, Kissin has since performed with the Vienna Philharmonic, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, London's Philharmonia and the Symphony Orchestras of London, Paris, Chicago, Cleveland, Boston and Philadelphia, under such notable conductors as Ashkenazy, Barenboim, Dohnányi, Gergiev, Guilini, Levine, Muti, Ozawa, Rostropovich, Solti, Spivakov, Svetlanov and Temirkanov. Among the numerous awards that Kissin has received are the 1997 Triumph Prize (Russia's highest cultural honor), Musical America's 1995 Instrumentalist of the Year, the 1994 Grand Prix of La Nouvelle Académie du Disque in Paris, 1991 Musician of the Year from the Chigiana Academy (Siena, Italy) and Holland's Edison Klassiek in 1990. His televised appearances include a December 1988 debut with the Berlin Philharmonic and von Karajan in the Tchaikovsky Concerto, and a 1991 appearance in Beethoven's "Choral Fantasy" with the Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado. In August of 1997, Kissin performed the first solo recital in the 103-year history of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Steinway piano from Pianohaus Lepthien, Freiburg, courtesy Südwestfunk
Technician: Heiner Sanwald
Art Direction: Richard Dombrowski
Cover Photo: ©Sergey Bermenjev
Recording Engineer: Tony Faulkner
Editing: Christianne Orto, Carl Talbot
A&R Direction: Dolly Williamson

Recorded August 20-26, 1997 at Südwestfunk Landesstudio, Freiburg, Germany using 20-Bit Technology



Although the USSR's system of identifying and training musically talented youngsters produced amazingly precocious pianists on a regular basis, Evgeny Kissin stood out from them as a talent far surpassing that of the usual Wunderkind. He has moved seemingly without difficulty to become one of the finest adult pianists on the world's concert stages. He began playing and improvising at the piano at the age of two. At the astonishing age of six he was admitted to the Gnessin School of Music for Gifted Children. His teacher there was Anna Pavlovna Kantor, who remained his only teacher.

He debuted playing Mozart's K 466 Piano Concerto with the Orchestra of Ulyanovsky. His first solo recital was in Moscow at age eleven.

In March, 1984, when he was twelve, he played both Chopin Concertos in the Moscow Conservatory Great Hall with Dmitri Kitaenko conducting the Moscow State Philharmonic. At this age he began making his first recordings, which remain in the catalogue.

His debut in the West was in the 1987 Berlin Festival, where he played Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan. He was then sixteen, and was hailed as a remarkable and mature artist. Recording contracts with western companies resulted. He returned to Western Europe on a tour in 1988 with the Moscow Virtuosi, Vladimir Spivakov conducting.

In the same year he debuted at the BBC Promenade Concerts with David Atherton conducting, and closed out the year at the traditional Berlin Philharmonic New Year's Eve concert under Karajan.

The two Chopin concertos were his American debut vehicles with Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic. Ten days later he followed this up with a sensational New York Recital debut at Carnegie Hall. Predictions of a major piano career were common, and have been borne out.

His amazing finger dexterity and power are coupled with an electrifying stage personality. His performances are dramatic and beautifully judged, musically. He tours widely, and his records are eagerly awaited.

He appeared on the 1992 Grammy Awards ceremony, and in 1995 became the youngest person ever awarded the Musical American Instrumentalist of the Year. In 1996, the Russian government granted him the Triumph Award for Excellence, one of its highest honors for culture. In 1997 he was the first ever to give a solo piano recital as one of the BBC Proms concerts. The six-thousand-plus seats of the Hall were sold out.

Joseph Stevenson, All-Music Guide, © 1992 - 2001 AEC One Stop Group, Inc.



I've listened to this interpretation of Beethoven's famous "Moonlight" Sonata a number of times and I'm still not sure whether I like it or not. As in his excellent recent recording of Beethoven's Piano Concertos (Nos. 2 and 5, on Sony Classical), Kissin plays with remarkable clarity. This is a sharply-etched performance, to say the least. In the first movement, the melody that hovers above the gently undulating arpeggios seems freshly chiseled, and the bass line is played with light accents on every note. I like the texture that is revealed by this stratification. What I'm not crazy about is the phrasing, which is full of little hesitations that negate the music's flow.

The remainder of the sonata is more convincingly realized. The second movement dances nimbly, but is also expressively lyrical. And in the finale, the extraordinary clarity of Kissin's playing creates considerable excitement. I even like the way he stretches the tempo near the movement's end; it's wonderfully dramatic, especially coming after so much relentless propulsion.

I have no quibbles about Kissin's performance of Franck's Prelude, Chorale and Fugue. From the cascade of notes at the opening of the prelude (which Kissin realizes with breathtaking liquidity of tone) through the quiet ecstasy of the chorale, to the intricate fabric of the closing fugue (where Kissin's ability to separate each individual thread is awe-inspiring), this is playing of the highest order. Stephen Hough offers a softer-edged, more introspective vision of this work on his drop-dead gorgeous recording of Franck's complete piano music (Hyperion). I'd be hard-pressed to choose between the two.

Let me admit that Brahms' Paganini-Variations have always left me rather cold. Despite some moments of great beauty, they seem like a series of glorified technical exercises. Kissin tosses off the work's fearsome technical challenges with such ease I often found myself shaking my head in amazement. But, even if Kissin's mind-blowing dexterity has not convinced me that these variations are a masterpiece, he finds more music in the maze of notes than any other performance I've previously encountered. If Brahms' Paganini-Variations is your cup of proverbial tea, you'll probably find Kissin's recording to be exceptionally toothsome.

Despite my mixed feelings about the opening movement of the "Moonlight" Sonata, this is an impressive recital. With all the complaining I've heard about the faceless virtuosos of our day, it's heartening to discover that Kissin is one young performer who has a musical personality to match his astonishing technique.

Andrew Farach-Colton - CI Classical Review
RATING: 8 - Really good (nearly great)



It has been 15 years since the 12-year-old Kissin came to international attention playing the two Chopin concertos with the Moscow Philharmonic. His virtuosity continues to stun, and the Brahms here is conquered with complete ease and fearlessness. For clarity matched with extremes of speed and volume, this account can have few equals -- as, for example, in variations 4 and 14 in book one. In book two, I was bowled over by the speed and lightness of variations 8 (using the ossia in sixths) and 11, and in both books I am very pleased to hear some lovely coloristic touches in the slower variations, including inner voices on repeats. The Beethoven is well played throughout, but the Franck is quite disappointing. It receives a full-blown "Technicolor" treatment that frequently misses the musical point in an effort to make a pianistic effect. The structure is fragmented, the dynamics are often extreme, and the aggressive muscularity that might suit much of the Brahms is here quite unwelcome. The gift to be simple is rarely evident, and the mystical and "reverential" aspects of the score are either lacking or applied halfheartedly. This is definitely a work that Kissin could grow into, but he's not there yet.

Charles Timbrell - July 6, 1998
FanFare



A wizard of technical control since his prodigy days, Kissin simply uses this as a foundation to probe the depths of such core repertory items as the ones on this collection. It takes a truly subtle musicality and grasp to make the endlessly recorded Moonlight sound fresh, but Kissin has the goods, pulling the carpet from underneath and making you really notice, with his unsentimental, steady tempo, how unsettling Beethoven's harmonic fluctuations are in a first movement of startling inwardness. Kissin allows the middle minuet to blossom within the sonata's larger nightscape, while he pushes the finale's cri de coeur to its heaven-storming edge. He likewise traces the late-19th-century gothic labyrinth of Franck's Prelude, Choral et Fugue with an absorbing blend of delicacy and power. But the real highlight of this disc is the gloriously brilliant intensity Kissin brings to the Brahms Paganini Variations. Listen to how he parades a dizzying, dazzling series of moods--from caressing introspection and bone-crunching, steely chords to the giddy cross-rhythms of Book II, Variation 7--to match Brahms's magnitude of invention. This is pianism of the first order.

Thomas May, Amazon.com essential recording



Referenz-Aufnahme der Paganini-Variationen

Evgeny Kissin war lange Zeit das Wunderkind im Konzertbetrieb, seit er im Alter von 12 mit einer Aufführung der beiden Chopin-Klavierkonzerte für Furore sorgte; die Auswahl seines Konzertprogrammes war lange Zeit durch romantische Stücke sowie solche russischer Komponisten geprägt. In den letzten Jahren hat sich dies jedoch geändert: so hat er nicht nur Haydn- und Schubert-Klaviersonaten eingespielt (Sony), sondern widmet sich in der hier vorliegenden CD erstmals einer Klaviersonate Ludwig van Beethovens und einem Zentralwerk Johannes Brahms', den berüchtigten Paganini-Variationen. Außerdem findet sich mit dem Prélude, Choral et Fugue ein Vertreter der französischen Spätromantik auf der Einspielung.

Wenn man es auf den ersten Blick bedauern mag, daß Kissin ausgerechnet die "Mondschein"-Sonate gewählt hat, deren 1. Satz von jedem noch so unbegabten Amateur gespielt wird, so ändert sich diese Einstellung nach dem ersten Hören sofort. Mit welcher Anschlagskultur und tiefgehendem Verständnis für die Struktur des Stückes Kissin etwa den ersten Satz spielt, ist beeindruckend. Der zweite Satz, von Liszt als "Blume zwischen zwei Abgründen" bezeichnet, wirkt wie ein federleichter Ausflug in heitere Gefilde, bevor der dritte Satz einsetzt. Wie Kissin diesen interpretiert, ist meiner Ansicht nach atemberaubend: Mit welchem unnachgiebigem Drive, ohne dabei auch nur ein Quentchen an Durchsichtigkeit zu verlieren, er durch diesen Satz jagt, konnte man nicht einmal bei dem dafür auch bekannten Friedrich Gulda erleben. Zwar mag dies nicht jedermanns Sache sein und manche mögen die etwas weniger kompromißlos virtuose Herangehensweise Alfred Brendels (Philips) vorziehen; Kissins Interpretationsansatz ist jedoch (für mich) überzeugend und konsequent durchgezogen.

Das Zentralwerk der vorliegenden Einspielung sind unstreitig die Paganini-Variationen von Brahms. Es handelt sich dabei um ein sowohl technisch als auch musikalisch schwer darzustellendes Stück, das nur bei einem Interpreten mit unanfechtbarem technischen Rüstzeug und einer hohen musikalischen Intelligenz überzeugen kann. Insofern kann man meiner Ansicht nach nur die Einspielungen von Arrau und Oppitz als gelungen bezeichnen. - Spieltechnisch gesehen gibt es für Kissin ohnehin keine "unspielbaren" Stücke (so aber das Urteil von Clara Schumann, ihrzufolge jedenfalls für Frauen), und so meistert er auch die schwierigsten Passagen nicht nur, sondern vermag auch noch bei den anspruchsvollsten Variationen gestalterisch tätig werden. So kann er jeder Variation einen eigenen Charakter geben und durch insgesamt sehr schnelle Tempi gerade bei den vertracktesten Passagen diese durch einen roten Faden verbinden, was anderen Pianisten schon technisch kaum möglich wäre. Auch hat er es nicht nötig, sich bei derartigen Stellen durch übermäßigen Pedalgebrauch zu "verstecken", so daß sein Spiel eine fast übernatürliche Klarheit gewinnt. Meiner Auffassung nach gelingt ihm hier eine Referenzeinspielung des Stückes, an zukünftige Interpretationen gemessen werden müssen.

Es ist schade, daß César Franck einerseits nicht allzuviel für Klavier komponiert hat und andererseits dieses nicht die ihm gebührende Aufmerksamkeit findet. So ist es umso lobenswerter, daß Kissin sich dieses Stückes annimmt - eine ähnlich gelungene, neuere Einspielung des Prélude, Choral und Fuge ist kürzlich von Stephen Hough (Hyperion) vorgelegt worden. Beeindruckend ist vor allem, wie der junge Russe im Choral orgelähnliche Klanggebilde auftürmt und wie vehement, aber auch mit welchem Überblick er sich der Schluß-Fuge annimmt.

In Anbetracht der wiederum überragenden Klangqualität der Aufnahme eine ohne Einschränkungen empfehlenswerte Einspielung - vor allem auch für diejenigen, denen Brahms zu "ernst" erschien oder die von Franck noch nichts gehört haben.

Rezensentin/Rezensent aus Deutschland, 19. März 2001



Interesting and occasionally compelling

Evgeny Kissin is to be congratulated for his work on this CD. His standard of pianism is of the highest quality, though I do not agree with every detail of his interpretations. He has also introduced two lesser known works along with the very famous 'Moonlight Sonata.' In this way he is bringing in a new audience for certain works, which is always laudable. So let us turn to the details. Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' has obviously been thought about very carefully by the performer. The first movement is very delicately conceived without too many pauses evident in other interpretations. Overall this is a compelling reading. My only reservation is an irritating rythmic inaccuracy in the repeated notes. The allegretto is of course charming, although there are no surprises here. The real meat is in the last movement. The playing is so precise, it reminds one of Glenn Gould. During some climaxes whole swathes of notes are muddled by use of the sustain pedal, but this seems to fit. Then there is the real magic. Beautiful cantabile, never before heard in this movement. All in all this is a very successful performance. The Cesar Franck is of course a relatively slight romantic piece, in which all the movements segue into eachother. But it is interesting. The movements seem to have some thematic linkage. Occasionally the music is very pleasant. The closing fugue is really canonic repitition with changes in harmony. Surely the interpretation is one of the most persuasive arguments this piece will ever receive. Finally the Brahms. The composer must have thought a lot of this work. After all there are 28 variations on the famous theme by Paganini. To me for the most part it seems strictly classical having more in common with the Diabelli Variations than the more famous set later composed by Rachmaninov. And of course there is nothing to match THE variation by the latter composer. But it is interesting enough. Although I mention the Diabelli set there is nothing here to match Beethoven's penetrating insight. But I am grateful for it having been brought to my attention. Suffice to say that the longest variation is only 1'46". Once more the performance is of the highest standard. I am happy to have this CD in my collection.

A music fan from Nantwich, Cheshire, UK, 14 April, 2001



Fascinating

Evgeny Kissing is one a young Piano genius. In this cd you will find a deep Beethoven, Franck and Brahms. To each of those three pieces Kissing brings his own ideas, virtuosity and a clear and sharp sound (very sharp for a recording!) of his piano. therefor one can expect to get here an intelectual advanture. A very recomanded cd.

Ron Katz from Haifa Israel , January 15, 2001



Phenomenal!

For many, this recording would be a revelation: the storm of emotions in Moonlight puts Kissin's account in a class of its own, the subtle intensity of Franck's Prelude, Choral and Fugue comes across as a colorful singing narrative, and Brahms's staggering Variations on a Theme of Paganini finally get the involvement and attention they deserve. Kissin is a poet at the piano, but his technique is beyond words - he uses incredible accuracy and tonal clarity as a supporting means of expression. The name that comes to mind of a pianist that possessed this kind of combination is Sviatoslav Richter, however Kissin engages in even more interpretative ventures, making his versions immediately unique.

This CD is a definite jewel; even if you have these pieces on other recordings, I would still recommend you get this one. Interestingly, I think, the program here was arranged with intent. After Beethoven's Presto Agitato literally "shakes your world" one is ready for reflective, sophisticated Franck. And then Brahms's heart stopping Paganini variation will send you on a journey through the world of cascading melodies and intriguing and even whimsical twists and turns. This CD is guarantees to provide hours of listening enjoyment, for every time you play it, there will be something previously undiscovered waiting for you. RCA did a fantastic job of recording: the sound is real and spacious.

Stephen Ettinger from Colorado, USA , May 10, 2000



Amazing Recording!

Before I begin the review I want to explain something. I am a 13 year old boy and untill a few years ago I was into pop music just like most kids are. But one day my mother played me 2 recordings of Evegny Kissin and it changed my life! I am now a devoted classical music fan and attend many concerts. What CD did you here you may ask? Well it was this very one that I am going to review and the CD with the Bach/Busoni Chaccone on it.

Now for the review: I own many versions of the first peice on this CD, The Beethoven "Moonlight Sonata," including Alfred Brandel's and Misha Dicter's, Kissin's is by far the best. The first movment is done very well and Kissin brings out the the melody and harmonys very well! The Second movment is played just as it is called for. Mr. Kissin plays it lightly and has alot of fun with it. And finnaly, the thrid movment is absolutley Brilliant! He Plays it fast and crisply and seems to put the accents in just the right place!

Now I am not the one to Judge the Frank Prelude, Choral et Fugue but I very much enjoyed it. Paganini Variations are spectacular. I do not think that there has ever been any Pianist that has ever or will play this piece with such Dyamics and power. Its worth it to by this CD for just this Piece Alone! My Final thoughts are that this CD is one of his best and a good one for first time Kissin listeners, along with the Bach/Busoni Chaccone. (I hve a review of the Bach/Busoni Chaacone as well)

A music fan from New York, May 1, 2000
 

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