When Evgeny Kissin, the Russian pianist renowned for his interpretations of the music of Chopin and other Romantic composers, holds a recital in Hong Kong, tickets sell out very quickly.

Invited by Hong Kong's Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the star pianist returned recently to the city after seven years. His performance at Hong Kong Cultural Centre on Oct 24 displayed both prowess and poetry.

The first half of the 80-minute recital was given over to Chopin's Nocturnes and Schumann's Sonata No 3, while the second half featured 10 pieces by Rachmaninov, selected from his challenging 10 Preludes, Op 23 and 13 Preludes, Op 32.

Quite a few classical music lovers in the audience will have remembered listening to 12-year-old Kissin playing Chopin's Piano Concertos No 1 and 2 with the Moscow State Philharmonic. Even at that young age he seemed to know how to interpret Chopin's music, bringing out its colors, contrasts and the imagination informing the compositions.

Nowadays he prefers to play these pieces in a more restrained and introspective manner. The two romantic-style nocturnes (Op 55 No 1 and Op 62 No 2) are not unfamiliar to concert-goers, and yet, in Kissin's interpretation, they sounded like they were freshly-minted for the concert.

Schumann's Piano Sonata No 3 brought the first half of the performance to a glorious climax. With unbeatable virtuosity, Kissin was able to express the intensity hidden in the piece while at the same time telling a love story with intimacy and tenderness, based on the composer's beautiful address to his lover Clara in the first movement.

The second half of the recital was dedicated to Rachmaninov, another 20th-century Russian composer who shared a taste for solemnity and gloom with other Slavic musicians. Although Kissin has frequently played Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Scriabin and other Russian romantic composers, he turned to Rachmaninov only in the recent years. He seemed to treat the 10 preludes as parts of a whole, playing these delicate and mysterious pieces in succession, displaying the range in Rachmaninov's music.

Kissin excels in his control over the medium. His playing is robust, dynamic and authentic in terms of emotional expression. His marvelous transition between the powerful and relatively weaker movements and his ability to work a deeply philosophical presentation was rewarded with a standing ovation as the show ended with a display of power and beauty.

He responded to the extended ovation with three encores: Schumann's Trumerei (Dreaming), a dramatic short piece written by himself, and Chopin's Polonaise (Op 53). The wild-haired musician who wears a childlike face at 47 recently wrote a memoir, got married last year, and seems to have reached his prime, both as a human being and an outstanding musician.

(HK Edition 11/02/2018 page10)