Last year when Evgeny Kissin played here, he brought infinite variety to an
all-Chopin evening.  Tonight, opening the San Francisco Performances season
in Davies Hall, he brought unity to three very different composers.

"Unity" is an awkward word, but I don't want to say "sameness" - and yet
that's what I mean, but that doesn't sound right either.  We are talking
about one of the truly great pianists of our time, and "sameness" is too
pejorative to apply to him.  And yet, I can't get around it, however
reluctant I am to say this.

The undeniable fact - to me - is that Beethoven's Sonata in D minor
("Tempest"), Schumann's "Carnaval" and Brahms' Sonata No. 3 in F Minor,
by and large, all sounded like...  Kissin.

There was a nervous energy running through the music, not at all like
the supreme confidence and unquestioning mastery he exhibited at the
Chopin recital, almost as if here were still working on these pieces.
In the Beethoven, especially, Kissin took exhilarating (or disappointing)
liberties with the tempo and dynamics, creating showy and perhaps
inappropriate contrasts between slow and quiet passages and "tempestuous"
ones.  The same in the Schumann.  The same in the Brahms.

And yet and yet - there were moments of unsurpassable brilliance,
segments of supreme beauty.  The one thing missing was hearing the whole
of Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms instead of parts of their works emerging
from the all-Kissin sound.  But would I listen to the whole concert again?
Absolutely.  Do I hope for Kissin getting it all together in the near
future.  Yep.  He will.  Look at Arcadi Volodos - he already has.

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Janos Gereben/San Fran