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Customer Reviews of Gift of Music

Mediocre at best
As others have mentioned, the interview is absolutely senselessly horrible. With such bad questions, it's a wonder Kissin was even able to come up with something to say. As a documentary, this thing isn't even worth watching! <
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>Kissin is well over-rated as a pianist. Oh, he has a certain level of virtuosity which is difficult to obtain (I play a little myself) but I was actually very very disappointed by his playing. After watching pianists like Lang Lang (Live at Carnegie Hall) and Yundi Ll, Kissin actually pales in comparison at a similar age. I don't even want to compare him to someone like Horowitz or Rubinstein, since they are in a different league all together. His Chopin is worth a look, but of course the footage detracts from his performance. I bought the DVD to see Kissin's technique and to get a sense of his performance. Yet through at least half of the film you either a) don't see his hands, b) see his hands from far far away, or c) you get the quarter or half of the piece he's playing cut off. For example, we only see the second half of Liszt's "Liebestraum" and Chopin's Nocturne (Op.27 No.2)! What's the point? <
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>There is some good footage in there which is worth seeing if you, for some reason, are a fan of Kissin. He is by no means a bad pianist, but he is by no means a great one. Kissin's attempt at "La Campanella" is absolutely nothing in comparison to Li. Kissin can play the notes, but he doesn't give one a sense of the amazing virtuosity of Liszt like Li seems to. I also saw a clip of Kissin playing a Scriabin Etude (Op. 8 No. 12) which is not on this DVD. As an example, it doesn't leave much open for interpretation, but after hearing Horowitz play it, Kissin really is just banging his hands on the piano. On this DVD, you see a few similar attempts at virtuosity, which I have no other footage to compare to. In my opinion, all of those attempts failed (in my opinion). He can play the notes, yes. But his playing is quite hollow. <
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>I don't see what all the fuss is about . . . he has some good Chopin, but if you're just looking for some good performance footage like I am, this is not the place to find it.

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So Far, He resembles Cziffra rather than Horowitz
Kissin is quite fluent in English and things he mentioned are all relevant. To be fair, talking occupied only about 1/3 of the total footage leaving well over an hour on the piano.

Kissin has a sister who is some 11 years his senior learning the piano and when he was a toddler. His sister was learning Bach's Fugues and he had been listening to her all the time and could hum the tune(s). So he started early and he was allocated a special teacher after he was assessed to be a gifted child by the State, and his teacher even stayed in his home since and for some 20 years! And we have a glimse of his teacher as well as his home here in this DVD. Kissin also told us about his early experience with the piano: the first year, only some 20 min per day and then a year later an hour and then the third year, 4 hours a day.

Most of the short pieces like Lizst and Chopin are not in the form of snippets, albeit that a small proportion of them were shot from a distance. There are quite a number of jems, judging from his age and background, one after the other, including Turkish March as arranged by Godowsky. Most of them are rather heavy encores when he played them in a promenade concert in Royal Albert Hall in one go when he was only 26 . The hall was packed with 6,000 audience-- a phenomenon in that hall for 50 years!

As pointed out of some reviews, there isn't too much depth in the portrait. That I suppose is a soft spot for many musicians grown up in Russia behind the iron curtain: they are more concerned with the technical side than music or art, as pointed out by Ashkenazy. But Kissin is still young and he has started to play chamber music, as depicted by the clip here, with more mature musicians like Gidon Kremer and the Hagans etc with whom he'll sure progress fast.

He also started composing early and he played two of them telling us what sort of standard he was in when he was a small boy. He also told us about his experience of stage fright...

I've seen his Tsaichovsky with Karajan when he was around 13. From this DVD, we can see his fingers and hand position much more clearly. Very high bridge and very unique indeed. He has small hands and rather delicate fingers, but his fingers are so independent as could be seen from the way they curl or lift separately from each other when he is playing. Tachnically he is amazing if not stunning and his rhythm is clearcut or perhaps too clearcut.

The sound as well as photography are excellent. A very good documentary indeed, and not to be missed by music lovers.

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A GENIUS at Work
This is truly an amazing musician - a genius - with technical skills beyond any I've seen. The next Horowitz. To see this kind of talent at his age is astounding.

The only drawback is the lack of camera close-ups of his hands during the concert at the end. It was frustrating at times. But that does not deminish the talent.

I've seen him in person twice. Now he is so popular it's hard to get tickets to see him - even months in advance. The number of encores he performs for his audiences seem endless. One cannot get enough of his raw talent.

I was DELIGHTED to know there is a DVD out that presents his talent and gives us some insight to his background and his gift. And to hear him talk about his ability to hum classical tunes and improvise them at 11 mos is - well - genius at work!