Part of my afternoon today was devoted to listening to music performed by a young man of about 15 or so. Not an ordinary musician, for sure. It was young Evgeny Kissin, expressing beautifully the music of Schubert, Liszt, and Brahms.
The expressiveness, and the sensitivity that I heard are accompanied by what I saw in this video: Delicate and expressive fingers that created these sounds on the piano.
The recording begins with several Schubert songs, as transcribed by Franz Liszt, who turns these songs into pianistic jewels. Next we hear the Schubert “Wanderer Fantasie”. This is followed by the Sarabande by J. S. Bach. I was truly transported to a better place via this incredible music.
Many years after Nach, Johannes Brahms composed the fantasies Op. 116 that we hear in the final,part of this journey. Later there is more Liszt, and an encore by Gluck.
Here is Evgeny Kissin playing for you Schubert’s “Gretchen am Spinnrade”, as arranged by Liszt:
