Various Composers - Live At The Royal Albert Hall [Lisitsa]
A YouTube sensation, her YouTube videos of the 24 Etudes of Chopin are phenomenal, i hope she now turns to the CD format, and makes many discs for many years to come, this is supposedly a live recording made this year [19th June 2012], but it sounds like it's a studio recording, as if no one turned up, there's no applause at all, it's a good programme, but only sticking to five Composers, and they're all shuffled up, 70 minutes of music, and this is very welcome, i hear that she's recorded the Rachmaninov Concertos, the future looks bright.
Valentina Lisitsa is Ukrainian, she seems to be starting out and young to me, however she's actually 39 years old and married, she recorded this disc live in 2012, so it's fresh off the press, i actually got my copy from Ebay cheap, the front cover picture is an amalgamation of two pictures, one of the portrait of Lisitsa [by Gilbert Francois], and the Royal Albert Hall in the background [by Chris Christodoulou], i like her pose and stance, the whole thing works really well.
This was an exciting recital, full of great stuff, i especially liked tracks 1-3, 6, 8, 12, 14 & 18, her Rachmaninov is muscular, Beethoven is played gentle, Liszt is played like she's having fun, a real little joker, though not everything works, i think she plays too fast on the whole, and she definitely gravitates to the staccato end of Pianists, but it's undeniable that she has great ideas in abundance, the track which i chose to talk about is track 3, Liszt's 'La Campanella' [the little bell], a mischievous imp of a piece, lasting just over 4 minutes, scored in the key of G Sharp Minor, and Lisitsa certainly uses those wonderful high treble notes to great effect, she plays it rightly not as some heavy handed warhorse, but rather like a musical box gone berserk, on the whole it gets more complex and louder as the piece develops, and Lisitsa shades speed and volume very nicely, it's actually not a piece i know all that well, so it's hard for me to judge her performance against almost non existent comparisons, i like her quick notes which almost sound like trills [1:32+], and when the bass notes come in [2:42+], wow she must have three hands!, love the ostinato ringing that turns into a staccato version of the tune [3:30-3:50], the transition is superbly done here, the following Rachmaninov Prelude [Op32 / 5], is heart-rending, ever since i heard it on the radio by Maura Lympany, but that's another Blog post i guess, it's a recital disc well worth hearing / keeping.
Here's Valentina Lisitsa playing Liszt's 'La Campenella' on YouTube, though not the Royal Albert Hall performance.
Here's Valentina Lisitsa playing Liszt's 'La Campenella' on YouTube, though not the Royal Albert Hall performance.
