to weight chords and individual notes in chords were almost on the Horowitz ordetj. There were a few mannerisms, such as the Russian Soul habit of consistently starting a melodic, phrase slowly and accelerating to tenjpq. Once in a while he employed a superpianis­ simo apparently just to show he could do i’t. Yet even these were used tastefully. Gets a New Voice The encores he played at the Philharmonic were themselves a story. Normally the Phil­ harmonic does not like its soloists to give encores. Some years back Yehudi Menuhin, after finishing a concerto, impulsively put At the Keyboard fiddle to chin and played Bach. The Way Philharmonic officials carried on, y&i would have thought that Mr. Menuhin had»isrobed in public They were outraged, Mr. Menuhin By HAROLD C. SCHONBERG Still in his teens,_______ was outraged that they were outraged, and there was a merry interchange foi a while. What happened after the concerto was that ORD OF MOUTH IN MUSIC Yevgeny Kissin________ may not be as fast as a com­ Mr. Mehta, observing the cheering audience, told Mr. Kissin to go back and play some­ puter chip, but it is a scientif­ carries on the ideals ic fact that when an extraor­ thing. The pianist obliged with the slow Cho­ pin F minor Waltz. When he returned to the dinary talent appears, the en- of the Romantic________ tir|e musical world on the five continents wings, Mr. Mehta said, ‘‘Now play something sefemsW to know about it in a matter of days. fast.” Hence the E minor Waltz. school of pianism. Reviews come out. One musician tells an- otljer, who tells his friends. Thus it was with Mr. Kissin started playing the piano at 2, Yqvgeny Kissin, the young Russian pianist cians in general — are largely interchange­ picking out melodies and trying to harmonize wlio made his New York debut with the New able these days. They all tend to sound alike, them. His mother, a piano teacher, helped York Philharmonic on Sept. 20 and his recital products of an assembly-line age, playing him along and realized that she had a gifted debut at Carnegie Hall last Sunday. He is a without charm or any apparent affection for child on her hands. The boy had absolute Romantic pianist in the old Russian tradition, the music under their fingers. pitch and a natural affinity for the keyboard. anti as such he is a throwback, even though At their best the recent Russian pianists, He also developed into, it is said, a sensation­ he] himself is skeptical about “a Russian such as Andrei Gavrilov or Sergei Edelmann, al sight reader. tradition.” In an interview in his West Side represent power rather than poetry. At their At 5, he was sent to the Gnessen School,"an hoiel the other day, he said, “How can there worst, such as Alexei Sultanov, they are institution in Moscow for musically gifted be a Russian tradition when pianists like mechanics rather than artists. children, and started lessons with Anna Pav­ So ronitsky, Gilels and Richter were so dif­ Thus in escaping the conservatory peril, lovna Kantor. She is still his teacher, the only ferent?” which could very well have mangled his one he has ever had, and Mr. Kissin stilf is iut despite Mr. Kissin’s disclaimer, there instinctive gifts, Mr. Kissin has evolved his enrolled as a Gnessen student. At 10, the really has been a Russian tradition of piano own style, and it is a style that looks back to a pianist made his debut, playing Mozart’s; D playing, although it has largely disappeared period where a controlled sonority, a singing he was already being talked about in all but gierezza.” Suddenly I was in the presence of minor Concerto with a small orchestra. At 11 in ¡recent years, thanks to the insistence in line, power without banging, tempo modifica­ mythic terms. I first heard his name at that greatness. All I could think about were pia­ he gave his debut recital in Moscow. At 12 he major conservatories on producing competi­ tion and poetry were what the great Slavic time from a musician'who had heard him nists like Benno Moiseiwitsch and Josef Lhe- played both Chopin piano concertos. The per­ tion pianists. Perhaps the best thing that ever Romantic pianists represented and what au­ play. Then, seven year? ago, I was in Mos' vinne. The boy had everything — fingers, formances were recorded in the Soviet happened to Mr. Kissin is that he never diences expected. Above all, they represent­ »cow, and I ran into Vladimir Spivakov, the tone, and an uncanny ability to know exactly Union, and the young Kissin’s playing, espe­ entered the Moscow Conservatory or a piano ed personality. Artists were not expected to violinist who had recently formed the Mos­ when to modify a tempo, how to accent an cially of the F minor Concerto, is remarkable competition. be clones of other artists. If the audience cow Virtuosi. ‘‘Come to tny concert,” he inner voice, how to highlight a phrase in the for its maturity, total pianistic command and $n recent years the Moscow Conservatory reaction to the Chopin F minor Concerto at urged. ‘‘I have a 12-year-oid pianist who is! subtlest and most musical of ways. All this at sensuous tone. It is one of the best perform­ ha$ been in the business of training pianists the Sept. 25 Philharmonic concert I attended going to put Vladimir Horowitz out of busi­ 12. ances ever put on disks. wlio play in the approved international man­ is any indication, the public is hungering for ness.” — The same qualities, only matured, were in By now Mr. Kissin is a veteran of the ned That means clear technique, strict ad­ the kind of mastery and personality that Mr. a# What else could one do but go? A skinny, evidence when he played the Chopin F minor concert stage. He has played with major herence to the printed note, a hard and even Kissin displayed. He got a yell of approval, a nervous-looking boy came out and played Concerto with Zubin Mehta and the Philhar­ orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmon­ clangorous tone, more attention to the mu­ standing ovation, and he even played two Mozart’s A major Concerto (K. 414). All sic’s architecture than to its emotional mean- monic. It was a refined, flexible, enchanting ic under Herbert von Karajan. He has made encores — Chopin’s F minor and E minor right, but nothing unuruaL Then came a performance, full of youthful ardor, marked in^ It means boredom. Russians, American, waltzes. many recordings, and currently has a con­ group of Liszt solos — some Schubert-Liszt with sensitive tempo fluctuations and ever­ tract with RCA Victor (which recorded last English and German pianists — and musi- When he was 10 (he will be 19 on Tuesday) songs, several études ending with ‘‘La Leg- shifting colors. Finger control and the ability Continued on Page 32 « Russian Soul Gets a New Voice at the Piano --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- tkiinlzcthinks a Innalong time»time hpfnrpbefore ancwprinpanswering Alliout. The ctmnnlastruggle ■is nntnot linguistic.Hnrriiietir» UaHe sian composers. But he has been Continued From Page 27 questions and definitely is not an ex­ speaks some English but generally working on a dozen or so Beethoven trovert, though in the company of has an interpreter at his side for sonatas, the last three Beethoven con­ week’s Carnegie Hall concert). friends and fellow musicians it is said interviews. Rather it is an effort to Will he remain as unspoiled and certos, and a variety of other reper­ that he can relax and have a good put his ideas into coherent form. natural an artist as he now is? Proba­ tory. He says that his style is still ip.a time. Among his pastimes are chess, There is a supressed nervousness in bly. He is a very serious young man formative stage. He listens to other reading (Russian classics, history) his personality. He also seems very pianists, and anything that he finds who seldom smiles. He is tall — about and record collecting. He has learned shy. six feet — and slim. His hands are big interesting he stores in his mind, jie that interviews are a part of the game listens to records constantly. Arthur but not enormous. Mr. Kissin can in the West, and he patiently and take a comfortable tenth and stretch Rubinstein was his favorite oianfivSt' politely goes through the routine, Up to now his repertory has been to an eleventh (C to F) if need be. He sometimes struggling to get an idea centered on the Romantics and Rus- as listened to tp£ Busoni disks and piano rolls and fipds them fascinating. Asked if he played everything more or less the same way once he hpd worked it out, he said, no, he wouldn’t deliberately try to make a perforpj- r Yevgeny Kissin says he is still in fïFÎ the formative ÌT” stage and that he ms is studying rrK Beethoven. ¿73 ance different, but it always comes out different. Sometimes he gets a new idea while he is on stage, he says, ' and has no hesitation trying it out'ojh i the spot. He practices a great déâl, but is not a slave to the keyboard. “It is not quantity but quality thaï counts,” he said. “I practice as the situation demands.” He probably is one of those fortunate musicians who never has to look at a piece of mùsic once he has mastered it. Indeed, he arrived in New York with his formal concert attire, but without his mtisfc for the Chopin concertos.