In the 50 years since his death, Shostakovich’s skill at puncturing the pomposity of inhumane leaders in his music has always seemed topical – and right now it feels tailored to the times. The pianist Evgeny Kissin – last year labelled a “foreign agent” by the Kremlin – is commemorating the half century by immersing himself in Shostakovich’s chamber music.
Kissin the piano soloist has been always technically dazzling and usually loud, so Kissin the chamber musician came as something of a revelation. Here was a true collaborative pianist – never just an accompanist, and often the dominant voice, yet always sensitive and supportive. In the wartime Piano Trio No 2 he took care not to overwhelm the two string players even though Gidon Kremer’s violin playing, so crisp in the hurtling second movement, often felt underpowered. At the beginning of the third movement, though, Kissin let loose a series of chiming chords, the ringing intensity of each seeming to grow rather than recede. It was a world away from the unearthly, barely-there harmonics from Giedrė Dirvanauskaitė’s cello with which the performance had begun – these two moments that outlined the parameters of a work of huge scope.
