Evgeny Kissin Recital, Barbican Centre

Few would contest that inscrutable Russian pianist Evgeny Kissin, who will give a solo recital at the Barbican, March 2015, is a virtuoso. The former child prodigy has developed into a technical master, noted for his immaculate finger-work. The Barbican place the pianist centre-stage next March, with a programme taken from the Romantic Period- Kissin’s natural habitat.
The concert will open with two beautiful pieces, written a century apart: Beethoven’s 1804 Piano Sonata No 21, followed by Prokofiev’s Sonata No 4, composed 100 years later - an unusually introverted piece from the normally bombastic composer.
Most exciting, though, is the music of the second half. First, a handful of Chopin Nocturnes and Mazurkas, two solo piano genres which the composer is credited with popularising and expanding - the nocturne: a short meditative piece evocative of the night; and the mazurka: a sprightly Polish dance form. Written in the first half of the nineteenth century, they now represent some of the finest examples of solo piano repertoire.
Kissin’s finale of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody 15  will give him further opportunity to show off. This gymnastic piece is the product of a consummate piano showman; Liszt, a performer too, more-or-less invented the public solo recital. Prepare to marvel at Kissin’s pristine delivery of this playful, feverish composition.