Memoirs and Reflections

Product Description

Russian-born classical pianist's personal account of a life in music.Russian-born classical pianist's personal account of a life in music.
Evgeny Igorevitch Kissin is a Russian-British-Israeli classical pianist. He first came to international fame as a child prodigy. He has been a British citizen since 2002 and an Israeli citizen since 2013. He has a wide repertoire and is especially known for his interpretations of the works of the Romantic era, particularly those of Fr d ric Chopin, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Franz Liszt.

These reminiscences are written in clear, literary Russian, yet with quite a conversational style and much detail of impressions, meetings with people (famous and unknown), as well as, of course, a great deal about music and particularly piano-playing.

The first two parts describe Kissin's childhood in Russia and his family's decision to live abroad after the attempted putsch at the Moscow White House. The third part consists mostly of his views of other pianists and conductors, as well as memories of people he met during his early years and career.

The book throws a good deal of light on the life and attitudes of the mainly Russian Jewish intelligentsia, the problems of visas to America, Britain and other countries, and his views on performance of music, his own compositions in music and verse, and his personal approach to concerts. It also offers Kissin's philosophy of life and his understanding of human nature derived from meetings with learned people, books and his own day-to-day experience. He does not indulge in false modesty, but takes a realistic view of who he is in the eyes of the world.