The Salzburg Recital

by Evgeny Kissin

Overview

Evgeny Kissin has reached the point where Deutsche Grammophon can bill a release with the monumentalizing title The Salzburg Recital and where he can indeed deliver the goods. This Salzburg recital was recorded in 2021, and there is a lot to like here. The 2021 festival marked its return after the 2020 pandemic cancellation, and one can feel a special electricity in the air. Kissin's usual virtues are on display, with clarity of line married to brilliance of tone; in the run of Chopin pieces in the recital's second half, he has never been better. Beyond Chopin, his usual stomping ground, Kissin pushes himself into new areas, opening with Berg's almost-atonal Piano Sonata, Op. 1, and including such novelties as a group of pieces by Tikhon Khrennikov, the composer who as Stalin's yes man, facilitated the second denunciation of Shostakovich. Lately, historians have argued that Khrennikov was not quite the villain he has been made out to be, and indeed these angular, rather Bartokian pieces are free of the Socialist Realist dullness one might expect. Kissin also takes a shot at Gershwin's Preludes, and he rather misses the jazz inflections in these works, but this is the thing about Kissin: it doesn't really matter, for his program and playing have the sweep and command that pulls the listener right through. This live release, a medium Kissin prefers (although Glenn Gould fans will be pleased to note occasional noises from the pianist), confirms Kissin as one of the greats of our time. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	12/02/2022
Label:	Deutsche Grammophon
UPC:	0028948629916
Rank:	65957

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Evgeny Kissin   Primary Artist,Piano

Technical Credits

Frederic Chopin   Composer
Felix Mendelssohn   Composer
George Gershwin   Composer
Claude Debussy   Composer
Alban Berg   Composer
Angelika Meissner   Executive Producer
Evgeny Kissin   Composer,Liner Notes
Peter Hecker   Balance Engineer
Eva Reisinger   Booklet Editor
Magdalena Herbst   Producer
Caroline Siegers   Recording Producer
Tikhon Khrennikov   Composer
Bernhard Neuhoff   Liner Notes
Florian Karg   Design
Clemence Fabre   Assistant Engineer
Nathalie Prasser   Project Coordinator
Lea Schneider   Product Manager
Nicole Albring   Production Manager
Marco Borelli   Cover Photo,Photography
Bradford J. Robinson   Liner Note Translation
Julia Timm   Production Manager