Here is a collectors’ item beyond price: a living rather than fabricated example of just what is possible from a 12-year-old genius. It is no exaggeration to say that these performances, taken from a legendary 1984 Moscow concert, are among the most phenomenally assured and meteoric of any on record. Every page blazes with youthful confidence and a stylistic know-how that would be astonishing from a pianist twice Kissin’s age. Already he possesses the peculiar attributes of Russian pianism at its greatest, with flawless, even strength and the most full-bodied cantabile. At 10'18'' in the first movement of the E minor Concerto you will hear playing of great expressive fullness; already he has all the time in the world to make his points (usually the hallmark of older, more experienced players). His punishing attack on Chopin’s double-note elaboration at 5'27'' in the finale will leave you breathless and so, too, will the way his playing so effortlessly takes wing at 2'07''. True, there are moments (the opening of the F minor Concerto’s central Larghetto) where he sounds too relentlessly upfront, too aggressively thrusting, and doubtless, when he comes to re-record these concertos in his maturity (Kissin has now reached the ripe old age of 24) he will find an even wider spectrum of colour and nuance; a greater subtlety. However, I doubt whether he will ever surpass the infallible and propulsive brilliance of these performances.
The concertos first appeared on Olympia in 1989, but RCA have trumped their ace, not only with three superbly played encores (the first emerging wraith-like from a storm of cheers) but in greatly improved, immaculate sound, and with a photograph of Kissin in all his chubby-cheeked, tousle-haired early glory.
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