Kissin Review in the Salzburger Nachrichten

I haven't used my German in so long that I can only get the vaguest sense of the review in the paper today by Derek Weber, but Google translate might help! The headline is "Evgeny Kissin erreicht einen Gipfel der Klavermusik" which translates as "Evgeny Kissin reaches a pinnacle of Klaver music." Ah, so that's what "Gipfel" means. The reviewer mentions Kissin's expertise with Chopin and his crystal-clear touch and says that he places his chords well. There is an odd comment about how individual notes are a piquant spice for the underlying structure and the reviewer goes on to add that the challenging pinnacle of the Beethoven works might lead a Chopin specialist to bring new colours into play. He speculates that this might also make him less willing to take liberties.

So, good review, though there is the slight undercurrent that perhaps a Chopin specialist doesn't quite command the inner core of the Beethoven piano sonatas.

For your edification, here is Evgeny Kissin playing the first movement of the "Hammerklavier" sonata at the Verbier festival two years ago: