Liszt Sonata in B Minor (Part 4) - Evgeny Kissin

[hallambrique]

i will see this peace in a few weeks. But this time it will be played by yuja wang.

Ps: escuse my english, i'm french.

[TheBadmthrfckr]

I can't see the audience too well but how in the hell do you not give this guy a standing ovation??

[Pianista061292]

THE BEST VERSION OF THIS PIECE ON YOUTBE. SIMPLY IMPRESSIVE.

[MachiavelliDefirenze]

@Pianista061292 You MUST listen to Andre Watts play this piece, i believe that is the very best interpretation.

[Zoldi77]

I can't listen to music for hours after listening ot this sonata. It's a very grave, and magnificent piece :)

[chobeethaninov]

7:30 And with that, a genius awakens from his trance...

[hjuniform]

One special note is sometimes more than enough make someone cry !

[chobeethaninov]

@hjuniform and I have to admit that Kissin makes me cry every time!

[UrbanVivaldi]

ALL THESE OCTAVES ARE IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME !

[chobeethaninov]

@UrbanVivaldi They all look like carpul tunnel to me! lol

[maestroanth]

I'm weirded out......not the liszt kabang. after a big sonata i followed theme after theme. fuck..........meow

i write better fugues........damn.

[maestroanth]

I'm weirded out......not the liszt kabang. after a big sonata i followed theme after theme. fuck..........meow

[maestroanth]

I'm weirded out......not the liszt kabang.

[MrGunterguerrero]

Liszt's Sonata in B minor. s.178, 1853 : A major landmark in the entire history of music.

Evgeny, absolutely perfect !

[lennic95]

It's really sad that the last note wasn't in tune, it ruined the end a bit. They could have at least tuned the piano :/

[truitertje10]

Thank you for coming to Amsterdam !

[ym42ym42]

IMHO, after a great fugue ( all those energy outbursts ) and beginning of the recap, the secondary theme gets too slow and we already heard it all before... Kind of disappointing and losing energy here... Stretta quasi Presto is too slow as well, however, I kind of like the idea of playing prestissimo x2, a la Alla Breve ( in 2 ), but its too fast for him ( still he does very very well ).

[danydruzy]

does any one Know if there is an original DVD recording on sale of this concert?and where could I buy it? I'd really appreciate

[TheSwordsweeper]

He earned every single clap.

[fledgehog]

3:07-3:22 , it's amazing to think that a single instrument can sound so grand.

[EvanWaggerman]

36 pages of pure masterpiece.

[X3nion]

I think he is crying in the end!

Look at the very last note...while he is playing it, I think a teardrop is falling from his chin. It could however also be sweat, I am not sure!

[fledgehog]

@X3nion it's hard NOT to cry at the end, even as a listener...i can only imagine the level of emotion a true player of this piece would be immersed in at that point....

[4785689]

octaves are super!

[louismagie]

pure poesie

[Bananomon]

im by no means an expert in both classical and piano pieces but this was just amazing,

breathless

[1023george]

It surprises me that as little as 0.0003571% of the worlds population have actually watched this stunning performance, and that such a majority have let it pass over their head almost as if it wasn't there.

[chutdigadut]

this whole piece felt and sounded like a concerto! such a full amazing sound was produced by Kissin and the genious writing of Liszt.....truly something has been displayed here that is beyond mankind

[cpanati]

A transcendant experience. If Liszt had written nothing else but this sonata he'd be immortal. Kissin is, as always, sheer perfection.

[isadarisa]

the final is really surprising!! Liszt ends with a candential form F - Bm. not F# - Bm that would be the normal way.

Kissin marvellous!

[mumming1]

This thing is just perfect! Love the part from 2 mins to 3 mins+.. just awesome ;) anyway the whole thing is awesome! ;)

[gcaee]

truely better than yundi li !!

[MrRhiannonsdad]

I saw Kissin play this unparallelled masterpiece in Manchester the same year, I was in the presence of greatness. His grasp of this giant work is awe inspiring.

[SebastienLoong]

The end brings you to tears. what beauty, what nostalgia what love.

[jazzlover06]

Having read Brendel's essays on this coda, it becomes clear that Liszt added the end years after "finishing" this piece. Thank god that for once Liszt was uncapricious enough to properly tailor and finish a piece. The result is sublime. Hurray to second thoughts!!!

[cpanati]

Kissin's musicality is superb throughout. And his timing is perfect; he weaves the piece's many parts into a whole. One of the best pianists alive.

[cpanati]

When played correctly, as Kissin does abundantly, the ending is one of the most arresting, spellbinding, mesmerizing in all of piano literature. I'm literally on the edge of my seat as Kissin concludes the piece.  This is brilliant composing, and brilliant playing.

[cpanati]

The end is a religious experience.

[donaldcallen]

Well said. I've known this work for over 50 years, introduced to it by a wonderful Estonian pianist/composer, Vladimir Padwa, who was my teacher. In all the hearings over that time (and the hours I've struggled with it myself), this piece never ceases to amaze me, when played well (rare). This is great playing by an amazing pianist. So many fail to capture the magic of that incredible ending; they could all learn something from Kissin, and Clifford Curzon as well.

[calflyboy]

True that ! A good word for it. The whole piece is a religious experience.

[debruintje]

Very very very good !!

[bravurablonde]

Is this performance available on a DVD? I've hunted around a bit and can't seem to find any information on it.

[calflyboy]

Does anyone else see here a musical illustration of the most epic battle between the infinite forces of heaven against the infinite forces of hell?

I am not religious but this is almost enough to make me belive in heaven and hell.

[duane127]

if you haven't heard Liszt's Dante, that might be an even better illustration from the same composer (if that's possible to obtain)!

[calflyboy]

I like the Dante very much too but it does not have the perfectly tight architecture and the beautiful themes that the Sonata in b minor has. the close relationship of the varions themes in the B minor is a true act of genious. I really think that piece is the ultimately PERFECT piece for the piano.

[chopinandliszt]

Kissin is one of the greatest pianists. He really knows how to express the musical language of Liszt. Unlike him, some pianists simply don't know how to control their dynamics in virtuositic sections. Richter, in his practice, butchered those octaves at 3:20. Alexei Grybyuk's fine in terms of technique, but his interpretation of that particular section is incomprehensible. Hard, fast banging, that's all I see in his.

[paulostroff99]

Astounding! Bravo! TY.

[elioenaiantonio]

increíble, kissin es uno de los grandes pianistas de todos los tiempos

[Klavierstuck]

This is simply virtuoso piano playing and music making of the highest order. One might disagree with things here and there but the power of his conception and his total involvement in the musical narrative make this very compelling. I am sure Liszt would applaud.

[prestomoltoagitato]

that beautiful melody at 2:49 RUINED!!! ..well not ruined, but so much better if it was slower. sawl good though this fool's too crazy.

[addeex1]

Slower? at 02:40 it says Presto, which means very fast, and at 02:49 it says Prestissimo which means, as fast as possible(kind of) So he´s just doing what liszt wanted, A even faster version is, Alexei Grynyuk, he´s crazy :D

[darkkerrigan]

I don't understand how people can say he isn't musical here when this is one of the most romantic performances I have heard - he does a beautiful job in the slow melodic areas. I thought this was a nice performance - maybe a bit lacking in some areas, but I don't think he can be accused of not being musical.

[lisztbest]

grande interpretazione!nonostante ciò preferisco la versione di Horowitz.

[nazhiitoxx]

is There a video of kissin playing the Mazeppa??? that'd be very interesting :D

[PaulBCN1]

By far the most romantic version I have heard, a fab midnight music gift for hot spain.

[PaulBCN1]

This is by far the most romantic version I have heard, a fab midnight music session for hot spain.

[garrickohlsson]

Tempo maybe a little on the slow side for me. Mr. Kissin seems to pay a great deal of attention to articulation of the fingers and technique, and fittingly uses pedal sparingly to emphasize this aspect. More percussion and less lingering and more lyricism in the phrasing would have been more effective musically, but I would say his focus is more on technique than musical expressiveness.

[Achtelnote]

best octaves in the prestissimo part i know,and i heard a lot.

[josepharimathea]

You mean fastest. In my book that doesn't mean best. Most pianists wreck the grandeur and triumph of this passage by showing off how fast they can play it, even if it makes musical nonsense! Presumably its a sense of inadequacy that makes them feel the need to do this??

[nextren]

It's called staying in tempo and having a long view of the piece as opposed to slowing down to say "listen to the grandeur and triumph!", which makes real nonsense musically.

As to your "inadequacy" remark...hm. It would be very interesting to discuss who is inadequate.

[SlyFox616]

That's an odd view to uphold...particularly with regards to a Liszt piece. Playing this sonata with strict adherence to the metronome would come across as stale and artificial.

[pianoAndEngineering]

Have you heard Jeno Jando's recording of this work? Very similar to this recital and his rendition of that section is equally impressive

[jazzlover06]

I am a noisy teenager, who doesn't much like liszt. However, that piece is so damn moving and kissin suits it well. Brave thing to play as recital as well. Absolutely superb!! Everyone, show your friends this recording!

[samyooljackson]

incredible, liszt is probably the most underrated composer, he is getting a lot more recognition now with the liszt competition as well as the leslie howard recordings of all of liszts works,, alos if anyone has heard of the "teaching company" robert greenberg does a great set of lectures on liszts life and music i recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about this incredible pianist, and person

incredible performance by the way best i've heard probably fast loud and really powerful

[avalanche183]

lol how is he the most underrated composer? he's known to be one of the best pianists to ever walk the earth and wrote pieces that "revolutionized" the piano. he's just unknown to younger people who haven't really heard his pieces mainly because they can't play it, and they only know mozart, beethoven, chopin because that's all they can do and appreciate. just my two cents though, i could be totally wrong.

[AllUserNamesTaken111]

quite a romantic depiction of liszt's greatness.

[samyooljackson]

welll what i meant is not a lot of ppl play him and up until like the 80's he was jsut considered a B rate composer, but ya i guess it could be because younger generations can't play his music that they aren't learning his music which is too bad, but ya he definatly revolutionized the piano and invented the solo recital, :)

[maxi937]

Isn't that a great chord progression from 58-1:02? (C sharp minor to G Major)

[AllUserNamesTaken111]

when he turned to the audience, it looked like he was thinking "oh, I think it's done!"

[guirlandes3]

It's a superb performance, more impressive than much else he plays, such as the B minor Chopin sonata, which is not so successful in hishands. But here his playing is interpretively savvy, idiomatic, intelligent, passionate, rhetorical, anything but fussy, cognizant of the work's theatrical dimensions, and alive. Never mind Richter. Who know what bone he had to pick with EK?

[guboub]

I remember the comment of Richter about young Kissin: "he plays very well, but he does not seem to throw himself into the music. Will he ever be able to?"

I tend to agree with Richter for several of Kissin's performances, while enjoying them for all their other numerous quality.

[guboub]

I found one exception that made Richter a liar: Kissin's rendition of Rachmaninov's 3rd piano concerto. Now I have a second one: this sonata. I'm stunt and deeply moved, thank you so much for posting!

[Amajor13]

Listen to just about everything kissin did record, you'll find many more exceptions I take it.....when did Richter ever make this strange remark....I can hardly imagine he ever did.

[kaperisk]

i tend to believe just the opposite. i feel when he plays he is completely engulfed in the music... even becomes the music....

[AllUserNamesTaken111]

yeah, where did you get that quote? I think Kissin might have given off that impression when he was younger, due to his "grand gestures".

[barnold81]

I saw Kissin perform this live about ten years ago in Chicago. He also played the Beethoven Sonata in A Major, Op. 101 and the Brahms Klavierstucke Op. 119. At the time, I had just discovered Kissin, and was just totally in awe - I still am. The concert was fantastic, especially the Liszt Sonata. Kissin obviously has a deep respect for this work. Thanks so much for posting it.

[voolare]

I'm surprised he didn't record it! In the overall a great interpretation. Influenced by Horowitz in the beginning,then he takes his own path, reaching high peaks in the fugato and post-fugato part. Thank you for posting!

[scimmya]

yes,he recorded this piece(live).

;P