Chopin: 4 Impromptus , 36, 51, 66 (Kissin)

A gorgeous performance of Chopin’s four impromptus. Kissin’s playing is warm and free (as befits the form), featuring generous rubato and a striking fondness for the “Russian Crescendo“ -- that is to say, emphasising a passage marked with a crescendo by doing the exact opposite and playing with a decrescendo (you’ll hear this usually used in the Rachmaninoff piano concerti). Kissin’s playing never becomes cavalier, however -- the tempi are always moderate-to-slow, the voicing archly refined, and the melodic