Beethoven - Piano Sonata 14 'Moonlight' [Kissin] A hybrid disc of three different works by three different Composers, as far as people methodically collecting works on disc, these sort of discs can be a bit of this 'n' that, Helene Grimaud discs for DG come to mind here, these discs are compiled almost with the idea of a live recital in mind, some work, and others don't, personally i feel this one does, i like all the works on this disc.
Evgeny Kissin was born in Russia, and is now 39, this disc was recorded in 1997, the cover shows a close cropped black & white head shot of Kissin [by Sergey Dombrowski], quite a soft focus, with very small lettering for the Composers / works, but a nice front cover nonetheless.
The first movement is justly famous, so why do i always seem to gravitate towards the third movement instead?, the Sonata certainly has contrasts, the first and last movements are like opposites, the Adagio Sostenuto v Presto Agitato, one very slow, the other very fast, one calm and serene, the other troubled and agitated, it's a virtuoso powerhouse, like an express train that just won't stop in any station, right from the very go we have those lovely right hand notes going up the piano [0:00+], and when this opening is first reprised [1:33+], i can only think wow!, it seems to come back even more powerfully, the high treble outbursts shock me, the whole thing i guess is like a Rondo, it just keeps rolling around again and again, towards the end there's some unique moments, where the music takes stock in a sort of quasi-coda [6:10+], nice right hand work, which eventually turns into a nice blur up the keyboard [6:23+], and settles on a trill high up the piano afterward, the recording is lovely, nice and clear, well caught by the engineers, a very demonic piece from Beethoven.
Here's Kissin playing the Sonata on YouTube, the third movement starts at 8:30.
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