![]() The Scriabin Etudes were vividly descriptive, the ‘Mosquito’ truly earning its nickname as the trills buzzed delicately under Lisitsa’s fingers the Chopin Nocturnes sang with an intimacy as if she were playing in a hall a quarter of the size. The Rachmaninov pieces were rich and warm in tone, any technical slips made up for by the baffling strength of character in the playing. The second half was an indulgent feast of Romantic repertoire, with a mixture of Rachmaninov Preludes, Scriabin Poèmes and Etudes, Chopin Nocturnes and, to finish, Liszt’s Totentanz. ![]() The Presto agitato bubbled along with contained agitation, and swept the first half to a close, followed by rapturous applause that demanded two bows. The Allegretto was delightful – Lisitsa even smiled as she began to play, and her enjoyment was infectious. The Adagio was taken at a somewhat faster pace than normal (a little too fast even by 19th-century standards), but suitability aside, it was refreshing to feel the piece move as opposed to the sugary languorous dragging to which some pianists subject the movement. Finally, Lisitsa finished the half with Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. The transcriptions were as expressive as the original sung versions despite the technical difficulties – most pianists would balk at having to play the accompaniment part for Erlkönig, let alone the vocal part as well, but the different voices of the characters came across clearly even without words, and the mysterious elven king was both enticing and terrifying. Lisitsa’s approach was more Lisztian than Schubertian, but always in good taste and with careful regard to the stories behind the pieces. To follow, she played Liszt’s transcriptions of three Schubert songs. Next was the Mozart Fantasy in C minor, K475, probably the weakest item on the programme – not for musical or technical reasons (it was virtually flawless) but merely because for such a staggering virtuosic and musical talent, it seemed too small a vehicle to completely showcase her skills. 12 grabbed the audience’s attention from the off, sparkling with a polished yet rustic vibrancy, everything perfectly placed under her fingers. However, the Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody no. I suspected that the programme would be full of showpiece favourites, but while the programme was indeed smattered with a few concert-hall classics, Lisitsa actually reminded us why these pieces are indeed famous, without once stooping to meaningless technical fireworks.īefore the playing even began, Lisitsa endeared herself to the audience with a heartfelt welcome, raising a smile by suggesting the first piece could be ‘thrown under the bus’ for the benefit of latecomers and press photos. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t sceptical about the whole thing being a little bit gimmicky. Not content with being any ordinary internet superstar, in the run-up to her Royal Albert Hall debut, the Ukrainian pianist uploaded videos of her practice sessions, announced her intention to stream the concert across the globe, and even went so far as to allow the audience to pick the programme via the internet. To learn more about how and for what purposes Amazon uses personal information (such as Amazon Store order history), please visit our Privacy notice.With more than 30 million YouTube channel views, there is simply no doubt that Valentina Lisitsa is already a classical music star to contend with. ![]() You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Click "Decline" to reject, or "Customise" to make more detailed advertising choices, or learn more. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. ![]() Cookies store or access standard device information such as a unique identifier. Your choice applies to using first-party and third-party advertising cookies on this service. If you agree, we'll also use cookies to complement your shopping experience across the Amazon stores as described in our Cookie notice. We also use these cookies to understand how customers use our services (for example, by measuring site visits) so we can make improvements. We use cookies and similar tools that are necessary to enable you to make purchases, to enhance your shopping experiences and to provide our services, as detailed in our Cookie notice.
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