That was the third CSO concert I attended within one week. This one was last Thursday, and I went with my neighbor, with whom I attend most of the events. The conductor was Andrey Boreyko, and the featured soloist was Evgeny Kissin. I told my neighbor that the first time I saw Kissin performing was when he was nine years old, and I still remember it, because he sounded extraordinary. Well, 40+ years later, he is definitely a great pianist, but I somehow felt like he lost his spark, or just was not at his best.
The technique is flawless as usual, but it didn’t touch me as much as I thought it would, and I attribute that to Kissin not putting his whole soul into this performance. I do not know how to better describe what I felt.
You won’t tell any of that, looking at the pictures below, so I am willing to accept it was just me.
One more note. One of the pieces performed was a Suite from the Tale of Tsar Saltan, and even the program notes stated that the Flight of the Bumblebee is the only music from Rimsky-Korsakov that the world knows. The audience became very enthusiastic with the first sounds of this part of the suite, and even my neighbor pushed my elbow 😂. Well…
Hettie's Reflections 