《---如何，是不是有点像巴拉克- -，小时候是小天使，长大了成了巴拉克……

Bashing through Beethoven ... Evgeny Kissin. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe

Two hours into our conversation, Evgeny Kissin, sitting in his apartment on New York's Upper West Side, becomes somewhat restless and asks how many questions I still have for him. "Not many, really," I reply. "The reason for my asking," he continues, "is that our building has a new regulation: we are prohibited to practice after 9pm, and it's already seven o'clock."

（基辛的家在纽约西部，是个公寓。采访进行了两个小时的时候，基辛有点左右乱动了，并且问，你还有多少问题啊？采访者赶紧说，不多了，不多了。基辛解释道：“我问这个是因为这个公寓有个新规定，九点之后不准练琴，而现在已经七点了。”）

This new regulation, however impeding, is still a far cry from the experience he and his family had in their Moscow apartment. Their downstairs neighbour, an artillery captain, called the district music school where Kissin's mother worked as a piano teacher and complained about the noise the 14-year-old Evgeny was making. He also implied that Mrs Kissin was giving private lessons at her home, which was a crime in the Soviet Union. Later on, in conversation with Mrs Kissin, the captain inquired whether her son attended school - the question was an implied Molotov cocktail, since it was a crime for a child to not attend school. Mrs Kissin said that her son was given free-attendance status so that he could practice more at home. The captain retorted: "I'm an artillery officer, but I don't fire cannons at home."

（这个规定比以前他在莫斯科时，那个公寓的规定要好多了。那时候，他们楼下的邻居，一个炮兵团团长，给基辛妈妈教钢琴的地方打电话（就是地区音乐学院），说14岁的基辛制造噪音。他还暗示学校说基辛妈妈在家悄悄给基辛上小课，这个在当时的苏联是犯法的。之后不久，团长又问基辛妈妈，你小孩上学嘛？因为在苏联小孩不上学也是犯罪。基辛太太只好说她儿子的学校已经给了他不用上课的准许了，这样他好在家联系。团长说，诶，我可是炮兵团长，可我也不在家放加隆炮哇！）

A group of neighbours appealed to the court, asserting that the Kissins had a concert grand in the middle of a room - "We actually had an upright piano at that time," comments Evgeny Kissin - and that at the piano "a boy is sitting, pushing hard on the pedals". Eventually a policeman came to investigate. On that particular day, Kissin had a rehearsal at the Kremlin for a gala concert dedicated to the completion of the 27th Congress of the Communist Party. "My father explained to the policeman the reason for my absence," says Kissin. "The policeman gave a salute and said, 'So be it. His practicing will never be a problem from this point on.'"

（一堆邻居去法院上诉，说基辛在家正中间开演奏会，踏板踩得咚咚咚。基辛委屈地说，可是我家钢琴在右上角嘛。就这么折腾着，最后警察来了，而那天基辛正在排练，他要在克里姆林宫的交响晚会上演出，是庆祝共产主义成立二十七周年的……“我爸向警察解释为什么我此刻无法在场，警察听了原因，敬了个礼，说，那别做啥了，他的练习从此以后都不会被是个问题了！”）

The artillery captain did not actually experience many problems with "noise" when Kissin was a child. In his first year at the Gnesin Special Music School, which he entered at the age of six, Kissin practised no more than 20 minutes a day. In his second year of school, he practised close to an hour; and after three years, four hours a day. "I think that I didn't need too much discipline in the beginning," Kissin says. "As a musician, I was developing very fast, and when one has a real gift, one can make strides by using only natural talent, without applying too much effort. Later there comes a moment when one can't grow without working hard."

（其实团长同学以前没遭遇过那么多“噪音”的，六岁，基辛第一年上gnesin特别音乐学院时，他每天就练二十分钟。第二年，他终于能练习到差不多一个小时一天了。三年之后，他开始了每天四小时的练习。“我想我一开始时不需要多少练习，做为音乐家，我进步得很快，而当一个人真正拥有天赋时，你可以只依靠你的天赋才能，而不需要过多努力。但到了一定程度，你就到了不努力就无法进步的点儿上了。）

Kissin, who has just turned 32, was extremely quiet as a child. He stood in his crib and listened to his elder sister playing the piano. One day he sang a theme from a Bach fugue his sister was practising. He was one year old. From then on, he sang everything he heard: his sister's repertoire, melodies he heard on the radio, TV and records. At the age of two, he began to play the piano.

（三十二岁的基辛，小时候是个无比安静的宝宝。他站在自己的婴儿床上听他姐姐弹琴，有一天他哼出了姐姐弹的巴赫赋格，那时他一岁。这之后开始，他唱一切他听到的东西：姐姐的练习，电视或者录音机里面的旋律……四岁时，他开始弹琴。）

Nobody taught him before he attended school, and it was only there that he learned how to read music. "My parents did not expect me to have a gift for music," says Kissin. "They did not think that I would become a musician, so they allowed me to do whatever I wanted. They thought that my sister would be a pianist."

（他上学前根本没人教他弹琴，上学之后他也才开始学习认谱。”我爸不指望我有音乐方面的天赋，他们根本不觉得我会是个音乐家，所以他们随便我干什么。他们都觉得我姐姐会是钢琴家。”）

At the Gnesin School, he entered the class of Anna Pavlovna Kantor - the only piano teacher he has ever had. "For as long as I can remember," says Kissin, "I was more interested in music than spending time outside with other children. It was an urge that neither I nor anyone else could stop. Perhaps some would think that my childhood wasn't really normal. But for me it was as natural and normal as breathing."

（进入音乐学院之后，他的老师是pavlovna，也是他唯一的老师。“从我有记忆开始，我就更加喜欢音乐，而不是出去和其他小孩玩。这个欲望，我也好其他人也好，都无法阻止。可能有些人会觉得我的童年不正常，可是这对我来说就正常得跟呼吸一样了。”）

His first performance was at the age of seven, when he played his own compositions. He was 10 when he played his first concert with an orchestra; at 12 he played Chopin's concertos with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and Dmitry Kitaenko at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. This famous concert was one of the most important and memorable points in the pianist's career. He was virtually unknown until that evening; he woke up the next morning as a legend.

（他的第一次演出是七岁时，弹的是他自己作的曲子。十岁时他第一次跟交响乐团合作，十二岁时他和莫斯科爱乐合作，演奏了肖一，地点是莫斯科音乐学院大厅。这是他最重要的音乐会之一，那天之前他是无名人，那天之后他成了传奇。）

Kissin seems reluctant to consider that concert as a transition to stardom: "I understand that it was an important event in my life. But fame, stardom? I have never been interested in them. I've never liked publicity. I've eventually learned how to behave properly when approached by musical fans, but I have to admit that just 10 years ago I was absurdly anti-social in this respect."

（基辛自己不太认为这场演奏会是他的人生转折点。“我懂得他是我人生中很重要的一件事，但荣耀和明星之类的，我从来都不关心这些。我也从不喜欢公众亮相。我倒是慢慢学会了如何在冲过来的乐迷米啊年保持镇定，但就在十年前，我都还特别害怕公众，总是产生抵触。）

His parents and Kantor cultivated this approach to success. The day after the Moscow concert the whole family took a short vacation in Zvenigorod (about 30 miles west of Moscow). Many years later Kissin came to know that they did that on purpose, so that he didn't notice all the agitation created by his performance.

（莫斯科那次音乐会之后，他们全家马上带着一家大小的跑去了zvengigogrod渡假了，好多好多年之后基辛才知道，爸妈做这个是有目的的，这样他们才能让基辛不察觉到他所造成的震动……）

The agitation was indeed quite enormous. Everyone who attended the concert - including this reporter - had the impression that Chopin's spirit was talking through Kissin that evening. Kissin, however, does not remember well his state of mind and soul during the concert. Nor does he remember how he played. "I remember some details, which were not connected to the music," he says. "At the end of the first part, for example, a dacha neighbour of ours came up to the stage with flowers, and after the concert someone gave me a big toy car. Anna Pavlovna told me later that when a stage manager opened a stage entrance door, I - seeing the hall - recoiled, and Kitaenko slightly pushed me forward. But I don't have a recollection of that."

（震动那真是相当大。每个参加音乐会的人，包括记者，都有了肖邦灵魂附体的感觉。但基辛自己却不记得他的灵魂和意识在台上到底是个什么样子了，他也不记得自己是怎么弹的。“我记得一些细节，但都不是音乐方面的，比如，第一章节结束时，我家一个邻居登台来献花，还有，音乐会之后，有人送了我个玩具汽车。我老师之后告诉我说当舞台总监打开去舞台的门时，我看着大厅，我很畏惧，然后kitaenko轻轻推了我一下……但我不记得了啊。）

At first, Kissin was allowed to travel only to eastern Europe. On his first trip, he played in a gala concert in east Berlin. After the concert, Erich Honecker, East Germany's Communist leader, said that if hadn't been for Kissin, the gala would have been a total waste of time.

（最开始，基辛只被允许去东欧，第一次巡演，他去了东柏林音乐大厅。音乐会之后，erich honecker，东德的共产主义领袖说，如果没有基辛，这次宴会就完全是在浪费他时间。）

In 1988, he met Herbert von Karajan and with him played the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto. Kissin's introduction to the conductor was quite unexpected. His impresario, Hans-Dieter Gohre, invited Kissin and his family to stay in Munich before the beginning of his tour in Austria and Switzerland with the Moscow Virtuosi. One morning, Gohre called him and asked whether he would like to meet and play for Karajan. "I was kind of taken aback," says Kissin. "'Do you mean the conductor?' I asked. 'Yes, the conductor,' he said. He had sent Karajan my recordings and asked if he would like to meet me. Karajan agreed."

（1988年，卡拉扬和基辛合作了柴一。基辛和卡拉扬的相聚很出人意料。卡拉扬的舞台负责人邀请基辛全家去慕尼黑玩，那时基辛正准备去瑞士和奥地利演出，跟着其他莫斯科音乐大师一起。一天早上，gohre打电话给基辛，问他愿意不愿意见卡拉扬。”我愣了一下，问，你是说那个指挥丫？”“是，是那个指挥。”“他给卡拉扬听了我的录音，问卡拉扬想不想见我，卡拉扬答应了。）

Kissin remembers every minute detail of the meeting and the extraordinary effect Karajan made on him: "Anna Pavlovna told me that I had never played Chopin's Fantasy as well as I did for Karajan." The effect was obviously mutual. "When I finished playing," remembers Kissin, "I looked at Karajan, got up, made a few steps toward him and saw him giving me an air kiss, then taking his sunglasses off and wiping his tears with a handkerchief." Karajan's wife said to Kissin after the meeting: "I have been married to him for 30 years and have never seen him so moved." While saying goodbye to Kissin's mother, Karajan pointed at the 16-year-old pianist and said: "Genius."

（基辛记得他和卡拉扬见面的每一个细节，“pavlovna说我从没弹幻想即兴曲弹那么好过！”影响力显然是双方的，“当我弹完了，我看去卡拉扬，站起来，朝他走了几步，随后看到他给我来了个飞吻；他取下他的太阳眼镜，开始用手帕擦眼泪。”卡拉扬的太太对基辛说：“我和他结婚三十多年了，还没见他这么被打动过。”卡拉扬跟基辛的妈妈说再见时，转头指着十六岁的钢琴少年说：“天才。”）

After graduating from the Gnesin School, Kissin was supposed to go to the Moscow Conservatory, but the administration of the Gnesin Music Institute suggested that Anna Pavlovna teach Kissin there. They both accepted, and Kissin spent the next two years at the institute.

It has always been a tradition in Russia for music students to go to a different teacher when entering such institutions as the Moscow Conservatory. The great Zverev, who taught Scriabin and Rachmaninov, knew that he had to hand them over to great piano masters who taught in the upper division of the conservatory. He transferred Scriabin to Safonov, and Rachmaninov to Ziloti. This transfer has never taken place with Kissin. "Anna Pavlovna and I matched extremely well, both musically and personally. She has become not only my musical mentor but also a friend of mine and of my family. Never having had a family of her own, she has become a part of our family."

They all moved to New York just after the 1991 revolution in Russia. It was an extremely turbulent, volatile and uncertain time in Russia; the country was disintegrating and what was coming in its place was unclear. "So we decided to wait it out," explains Kissin, "to see how all the turmoil would end. And since my tour at that time included the US, we decided to stay there. We also thought about the UK. Now we live in both New York and London."

（基辛全家，还有他的老师，都搬去了纽约，因为91政变之后一切都很动荡。“我们想等着看看到底会怎样，看一切最终会成为什么样子，当时我的巡演也包括纽约，所以我们全家决定暂时在那里住下，其是我们也曾考虑过伦敦。现在，我们在纽约和伦敦都住。）

After spending 20 years in a bright spotlight, Kissin appears to face the question every young virtuoso sooner or later must consider: how to make the transition into a mature thinker. In 1989, the Russian musicologist, Gennady Tsypin, published an essay about Kissin, in which he concluded: "There is an impression that so far playing the piano has been quite easy for him. Perhaps even too easy. All the pluses and minuses of his musicianship come from that. For now, what one notices first and foremost when listening to his performance are those aspects that come from his unique natural gift. It is admirable, but to a certain point. Something should certainly change in the future. What? How? When?"

"Of course, I play differently now than, let's say, 10 years ago," says Kissin. "It is not a cardinal difference of ideas or perception, however; it is that in my early years some things would go unnoticed, as if I had a different set of ears. Now, however, I notice more and see many things in a different light. My definition of musical maturity is that our goal as musicians is to come as close as possible in our performance of great works to the level of those works. We have to render all the depth of a composer's thought. I agree with Goethe who said, 'A real poet has an innate knowledge of life, and for its portrayal he needs neither experience nor empiric means.'"

One aspect of Kissin's playing will not change any time soon - his romantic approach to life and creativity. "I'm romantic as a person, and my romantic nature is reflected in my choice of music and my performing style," he says. "However, I learned from my experience that love for a particular work, composer or style and the ability to interpret it on a high level are two different things that often do not match. I have a complicated relationship with Beethoven's music, for example, although I have always believed that I have a special affinity to it. But in this case, my love for his music has never translated into my ability to perform it adequately."

（有一点，在基辛的演绎中是绝对不会变的——他对生活的浪漫态度，和想象力。”我内心很罗曼蒂克啊，我的罗曼蒂克的天性表现在我所选择的曲目中，也表现在我的诠释中。但是，这么多年的经历告诉我，喜欢一首曲目，或者音乐家，或者形式，和有能力把他们表现得很好，是完全两回事。比如，我对贝多芬就有很复杂的感情，我从来都觉得我和它有特别练习，但是我对它的爱怎么就是无法同等地表现在我的演奏上面呢。”）

Kissin plays around 40 concerts a year, which is one possible explanation for the fact that he never seems to tire of playing the piano. Despite being interested in many things he has no specific hobbies. "My art is my life," he stresses. "One is inseparably related to the other. To realise the potential given me by nature is, perhaps, most important for me, and my potential is in music."

（基辛每年演奏四十场，除了演奏，他没有任何兴趣爱好。“艺术是我的生命，无法和我分开，我认识到我的潜能在这里，我的潜能都在音乐里面。）

When he was once asked about his greatest triumph, he replied that he had not experienced it yet. It appears to be still ahead of him.

（当他被问到他最大的胜利是什么时，他说还没有这种感觉，看来这东西还在他前面）