What kind of performance has 10 curtain calls and three encores? Evgeny Kissin’s piano recital at Symphony Center on Sunday afternoon does. It was something reviewers dream to hear: a note-perfect performance that was so good, there was nothing to criticize whatsoever. This Russian performer attracted a very large audience, which loved it, too.
This program spanned the ages, starting with Johann Sebastian Bach’s Partita No. 2 in c-minor from the second quarter of the 18th Century. Writing before pianos were widely available, Bach’s non-organ keyboard music was intended for instruments like a harpsichord, which can only be played at one or two volumes, depending on the instrument. Part of the fascination of hearing Bach on a piano is how the performer uses the different levels of volume to enhance the music’s expressive intensity. Kissin got as much out of this fantastic music as is humanly possible.
This Partita has six movements, and a word that best captures Kissin’s approach is “dreamy,” from the opening Sinfonia, a three-part suite within a suite. Kissin was very intimate in the slow, first part, and he demonstrated clear separation of the two Intertwined melodies in the faster second part. The counterpoint was especially effective when things sped up in the third part.
The other movements were performed similarly well, especially my favorite, the Rondeau. Playing this waltz a bit slower than usual allowed him to sound clearly all three melodies in the fugue.
Moving to the mid 19th Century, Kissin next turned to Frédéric Chopin, and here is where Kissin demonstrated piano technique of the highest order. Dreaminess from the Bach carried over to Chopin’s Nocturne in c-sharp minor, which starts out very slowly and quietly. Kissin slightly varied the tempo as the secondary themes appeared. The A-flat Major Nocturne is a bit more melodic, and Kissin milked it for all its charm.
Chopin’s music completed the concert’s first half with Scherzo No. 4 in E-Major. Kissin needed a very up-tempo playing style for the Scherzo. As usual, he showed off precise and clear notes in the extremely rapid melodies in the right hand that permeated the work. He also exhibited powerful technique where needed and nice contrast in the quieter middle section.
Kissin played the first half from memory, but used sheet music in the second, which was devoted to the music of Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich from the middle of the 20th Century. Kissin performed Sonata No. 2 in b-minor in his typically precise way. The opening sonata-form Allegretto features constant motion with a descending two-note motif backed up by continuous, quiet rills. It then breaks into a march. It was amazing how Kissin shifted the main theme back and forth between his hands while keeping the background rills unaffected.
Following a slow middle movement, Kissin entered the finale without break. It’s a fabulous set of variations on a lengthy theme. As is typical with variations, there was plenty of shifting mood and meter. Kissin was great throughout.
The printed program ended with Kissin’s masterful performance of Shostakovich’s Prelude and Fugue No. 15 in D-Flat Major and No. 24 in d-minor. But more was yet to come. On the last note of the final fugue, the audience erupted. I lost count of the number of curtain calls, there were at least 10. Kissin returned to the piano bench three times for encores. The first was Bach’s Siciliano from his Flute Sonata in E-flat Major (arr. Kempff). He then played more Chopin: Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat Minor and, a little later, Waltz in C-sharp Minor.
Kissin must have been exhausted by the end, which was 2.5 hours after he first walked onstage. It was amazing from start to finish. He is scheduled to return to Symphony Center next year, May 17, 2026. I hope I can be there.