A few weeks ago Deutsche Grammophon, the most prestigious German record label in the world, announced with great fanfare the return of Russian pianist Evgeny Kissin within its ranks alongside the pianists Murray Perahia, Krystian Zimerman, Daniil Trifonov, Rafał Blechacz and Seong-Jin Cho. It’s therefore with some trepidation that piano enthusiasts wait for this Beethoven album that proves tempestuous and of astounding mastery, particularly in Appassionata in which the left hand opens up uncanny new areas of expression. This Appassionata could very well fuel some regrets about Deutsche Grammophon’s reluctance to invest in Kissin’s comeback on the yellow label through a proper studio album with coherent sound recordings, rather than gathering a disparate patchwork of live recordings. © TG/Qobuz