Kissin & Levine:Carnegie Conce

Piano music for four hands played an integral part in Schubert's compositional output. (Robert Schumann thought very highly of Schubert's compositions in this genre). He composed like music throughout his very short life. This recording contains works from the last years of his life and it certainly contains some of his best compositions for the piano-I really think that the Sonata for Piano 4 hands in C major, D 812/Op. 140 "Grand Duo" was really a symphony for two pianos. Whatever it is, Levine and Kissen give it a splendid reading! To me these works are far more than mere "housemusic" (or music known as music to be played exclusively among friends at evening gatherings in the home). As a piano major during my college days (many years ago) I played (not well) many of Schubert's piano works for four hands (with other piano students). I remember liking and enjoying them immensely. Since that time, Schubert's piano music for four hands has sort of disappeared from my "musical radar". This release is very welcome indeed. Hearing these works played by musicians of the caliber of Evengy Kissin and James Levine is phenomenal. (I simply ADORE the first number--Fantasie in F minor--it's achingly lovely)

Evengy Kissin and James Levine recorded this album "live" at Carnegie Hall in New York in 2005. Musicians of this acclaim don't' get together often to play this kind of music. Therefore, I would call this "a once in a lifetime" recording. Kissin and Levine play these wonderful works splendidly. Their playing reeks of almost a "second sense" with each other. They are always together as if anticipating each other's next move. There is a keen sense of rhythm, beautiful tone and dynamics. BRAVO! I really don't expect, in my lifetime, to hear these works played again as well as they are played on this album-it's is really amazing.

For some divine piano playing by two master musicians, buy this disc!

I imagine this concert could be the only time that Schubert's four-hand piano music, which was intended to be played at home, filled Carnegie Hall. Levine and Kissin are stars, but the big surprise is their unanimity--it's nearly impossible to tell on this CD which one is playing the first or second part. I heard not a single slip in ensemble. The music is self-recommending to Schubertians, since every work is a masterpiece (the F minor Fantasy is all but obligatory on such programs).

As to style, Kissin and Levine don't tiptoe around, which is gratifying--they take a forceful, energetic appraoch, and their tempos tend to be brisk. At times the phrasing lacks inwardness, but it's incredibly hard to bring out both the poetry and the strength of Schubert's piano writing. Britten and Richter came closer in their live recordings from the Aldeburgh Festival (BBC Legends), but Levine and Kissin are still first-rate. I am not fond of two-paino music (as the pieces are played here, rather than at a single keyborad), finding it too percussive, but this CD kept my attention from beginning to end. Lots of applause before and after each item, by the way.

Mogulmeister and Santa Fe Listener experience this CD so differently that it might be helpful to consider a reconciling point of view. Four-hand piano music flourished in an age when one could muster more than one pianist at a party or in a household. It invites intimacy as the two players sit in close proximity at one piano. This recording substitutes high-stakes Carnegie Hall for the salon and two nine-foot grands for the single keyboard. The result, to quote Santa Fe Listener, is a "forceful, energetic approach" where "tempos tend to be brisk." The unanimity of the two players is striking, but is less of a "big surprise" to me than it is to Santa Fe Listener because what makes it possible is a remarkably UNnuanced approach to phrasing and tempo. Which brings me to Mogulmeister.

The essence of Mogulmeister's review is less its unguarded rhetoric -- "complete disaster," "unbridgeable gap" -- than his claim that the two players are mismatched. My guess is that Mogulmeister, who saw Kissin and Levine perform, is on to something but is unable to hear this CD without remembering what it was like to be in the players' presence. When only the soundtrack of the concert is available, the contrast between Kissin and Levine is discernible but less evident; both seem committed to pushing the music forward energetically. Purchasers of this CD will probably enjoy the result, particularly in the scherzos, which are brilliant. That said, one need not search out Mogulmeister's recommended recordings to hear what is missing in the non-dance movements. The version of the Allegro D947 and the Sonata D812 recorded by a young Alfred Brendel (no flaming Romantic) and Evelyn Crochet nearly 40 years ago shows what is missing. In Crochet's hands the secundo part is both forceful AND pliant, at times quite poetic; for his part, Brendel plays Schubert's phrases as though they were written by someone who understood the human voice. True: from time to time Brendel and Crochet are very slightly off in their attacks. Nevertheless, the overall result is music that sounds lived, not just performed.

Kissin and Levine deserve kudos for bringing this music to a larger audience in the 21st century, and for playing forcefully with perfect precision. But there's quite a bit that they miss. Hence three stars.