Kissin Plays Chopin - The Verbier Festival Recital

The 35 year old virtuoso has had a great affinity for the music of Chopin throughout his career.
He performed works by the composer on the program of the now legendary recital at the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, when he was just 12 years old, and he has regularly programmed and recorded the composer's works since then.

"Chopin's music has always been close to my heart, even as a child," the Grammy®-winning pianist commented.

In a well-chosen program merging the Romantic patriotic anthems, elegies and heroism of the Polonaises with the seemingly effortless spontaneity and improvisatory magic of the Impromptus, the current recording, from a 2004 recital, features two of classical music's best-known works - the Fantaisie-Impromptu, Op. 66 in C-Sharp Minor (a section of which was adapted into the popular song "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows") and the much-loved "Heroic" Polonaise, Op. 53 in A-Flat Major. Polonaises Op. 26 No. 1 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 26 No. 2 in E-Flat Minor, and Op. 40 No. 2 in C Minor are also on the recording, as well as the remaining three Impromptus, Op. 29 in A-Flat Major, Op. 36 in F-Sharp Major and Op. 51 in G-Flat Major.

Kissin's Chopin performances have been consistently praised by the critics; in a 2005 review of a recital featuring the CD's repertoire (headlined "Extraordinary Evgeny Kissin Dances Across The Keys"), the Washington Post applauded his "exuberant and impassioned" playing, "Apollonian intelligence," "note-perfect" interpretations and "ardor."

During the same tour, The New York Times found his interpretations "elevated and insightful" and praised his "ironclad technique, fiery grand gesture" and "passion." "There was great sensitivity and organic development in Mr. Kissin's accounts of the Impromptus in A flat (Op. 29) and F sharp (Op. 36), as well as great clarity of texture and line in his readings of the Impromptu in G flat (Op. 51) and the alternately tempestuous and lyrical Fantaisie-Impromptu in C sharp minor (Op. 66)."

Returning to the U.S. in Spring 2007 for a recital tour, the pianist will perform at Washington's Kennedy Center (April 18); Chicago's Symphony Center (April 22); Philadelphia's Kimmel Center (April 25); Boston's Symphony Hall (April 29); New York's Carnegie Hall (May 3); and Miami's Knight Concert Hall (May 7). All six concerts will include Chopin on the programs.

Hailed by London's Independent as "the greatest pianist of his generation, if not several others besides," Evgeny Kissin's musicality, the depth and poetic quality of his interpretations, and his extraordinary virtuosity have placed him at the forefront of the world's new generation of young pianists. He has recorded extensively for the RCA Red Seal and Sony Classical labels - both now a part of Sony BMG Masterworks - and, after receiving ten Grammy® nominations, won his first Grammy® Award in 2006, for Best Instrumental Solo Performance for his CD of works by Scriabin, Medtner and Stravinsky.