Evgeny Kissin has pulled off a brilliant coup with his latest project, an exploration of Jewish music and Yiddish poetry--both performed by him. And the performance, at Washington's Kennedy Center, was hailed by Washington Post critic Anne Midgette as one of the finest things she had ever witnessed.
As Midgette points out, there is a concerted movement especially among younger performers to think about less traditional ways of presenting classical music. Kissin has never been a notable member of their ranks. Oh, he has been part of some astonishing firsts (the first pianist to be accorded a solo piano concert at a prime-time, Royal Albert Hall, BBC Prom, for instance) and nobody seriously doubts the magisterial level of his talent.
But reading poetry? Kissin has often come across as music and nothing but.
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