Tag Archives: Chopin

Traktatie en weldaad voor de oren: de jonge Tsjechische pianiste Natalie Schwamova

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De piepjonge Tsjechische pianiste Natalie Schwamova (geboren in augustus 1999) heeft alles in huis waar je als liefhebber van klassieke pianomuziek de oren voor spitst en van gaat watertanden. Zij beschikt over een formidabele techniek en haar interpretaties zijn om van te smullen, een traktatie voor de oren.

Ik sta versteld van de muzikale volwassenheid die zij al op zo jonge leeftijd op het klavier tentoonspreidt. Tot in de puntjes beheerst zij het métier van verhalen vertellen met en in muziek. Wat een weldaad.

Geen wonder dat zij al prestigieuze muziekprijzen won en in de internationale muziekwereld de aandacht op zich gevestigd weet.

Geen twijfel mogelijk: van deze jongedame gaan we nog veel horen.

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Piano recital Valentina Lisitsa in Haarlem: a triumph!

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A big ‘Hurray’ for pianist Valentina Lisitsa!


A picture I took of Valentina after her recital in Haarlem

What a musical triumph on Friday night 27 January 2012 in Haarlem, where Valentina played a recital. It was stunning-superb! In contrast to her recital in Delft on January 22nd – where she played on a terrible Yamaha – the stage in Haarlem offered far better conditions to help improve the performance and to stimulate Valentina to give her best. The Philharmonie in Haarlem had (from my position in the middle of its hall) good acoustics and Valentina played on a well prepared Steinway and – very crucial – one on which she had been practicing the past few days with good guidance of a piano technician. It paved the way to push Valentina to yet another extraordinary musical result. She played an astonishing programme, that covered many composers and a huge array of emotions: Beethoven’s Sonata No.26, Schumann’s Kinderszenen, Thalberg’s Grande Fantaisie Op.63, five Chopin Nocturnes and Liszt’s Totentanz.
Her touch ranged from the utmost delicacy to the most exuberant and extreme. In some pieces I heard an angelic poet (Schumann), in some a tempting siren (Chopin), in some a devilish lady with stainless steel in her mighty hands (like no one else really and totally amazing in the Totentanz!) and in yet other pieces all these musical powers greatly combined.


The Steinway that was put to the test by Valentina. Afterwards the instrument was diagnosed with PTS-syndrome, due to its peak-experiences on ‘1/27’ 🙂

Throughout the evening the musical delivery was clearly articulated and expressed with subtlety in evry detail. The audience was spellbound and carried away by the eloquence of Valentina’s musical tale-telling, always interesting and alternating from sheer poetry to an amazing virtuosity that doesn’t look difficult for her.
There was a nice surprise at the beginning: because of Mozart’s birthday – on January 27th – Valentina started her recital with a brilliant execution of his Fantasia in C-minor, KV475. Then the programme unfolded as mentioned. The audience’s great enthusiasm (there was already a standing ovation before the break) was rewarded with three marvellous encores: first Schubert’s ‘Ave Maria’ (arranged by Liszt), then the charming Chopin Nocturne in E Flat Major Op.9, No.2 and Valentina ended with a mighty virtuoso-bravura piece: Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.12.
This was a night to remember. Wow!

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Piano sensation Valentina Lisitsa highlighted in dutch national press

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(click on picture to enlarge)
An article on Friday 20 January 2012 about virtuoso classical pianist and YouTube-sensation Valentina Lisitsa in dutch national newspaper De Volkskrant. Valentina plays in The Netherlands, on Sunday 22 january 2012 in Delft and on Friday 27 January 2012 in Haarlem. The article in De Volkskrant shows that more and more big media finally begin to recognise what I (see my videos of Valentina on the web) and so many people on YouTube have known for years already… the unique stature and greatness of Valentina! 🙂

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Valentina Lisitsa’s new release: Chopin-recital (CD+DVD)

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Ordered at Amazon a few days ago and now already playing here in Amsterdam: Valentina’s Chopin-recital (released on 28 November 2011).
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Great! 🙂

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Valentina Lisitsa plays in Delft and Haarlem (The Netherlands) in January 2012

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Good news for classical piano fans in The Netherlands. Valentina Lisitsa will play at least two recitals on dutch soil in January 2012:
on 22 January in Delft in theatre De Veste and on 27 January in the Philharmonie in Haarlem.

Valentina Lisitsa in London, April 2009 (photo by Pieter de Rooij)

Valentina Lisitsa in London, April 2009 (photo by Pieter de Rooij)

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Valentina Lisitsa / livestream webcast recording sessions 24 Etudes Chopin

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On August 17th, 18th and 19th 2010 I attended in the Beethovensaal in Hannover Valentina Lisitsa’s rehearsal (17th) and recording sessions (18th and 19th) of the 24 Etudes of Chopin. While a live-webstream was running during Valentina’s playing and Alexei (Valentina’s husband) was putting it on his cameras, I did some webhosting and on the 17th I also filmed some of the rehearsing.

In the upstairs studio there was producer Michael Fine, assisted by Tammy Fine and sound engineer Wolf-Dieter Karwatky.

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Valentina and producer Michael Fine

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Alexei (Valentina’s husband), Valentina and producer Michael Fine

Valentina played on a veery beautiful Steinway D Hamburg, prepared and taken care off by piano technician Gerd Finkenstein.

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Valentina in the Beethovensaal in Hannover

The 24 Etudes were played by Valentina with great artistic depth and a deep understanding of Chopin. There were tiny details and truly magnificent colours that I had not heard before in her playing of the Etudes. Truly amazing!

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Me and Valentina during a coffee break

Valentina and the whole crew really loved the wonderful response from the livestream webcast’s visitors.

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Right after finishing the recordings Valentina takes a look into the chatroom and starts chatting

As soon as Valentina had finished Op.25-12 she switched to another keyboard and entered the chatroom for a final talk with the viewers and ‘followers’. Big Fun for evryone ! 🙂

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Valentina Lisitsa : solo takes Rachmaninoff #4

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On August 7th, 2010, I’ve published two new videos on my YouTubechannel with another 18 minutes of some exquisite playing by Valentina Lisitsa, filmed by me in London, Abbey Road Studios, December 6th, 2009.

It’s some of my footage of Valentina doing solo take recordings of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.4, as part of her Rachmaninoff Project with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), conducted by Michael Francis and produced by Michael Fine.

For this project with the LSO – that’s bound for release by the end of 2010 – Valentina recorded at the Abbey Road Studios in London Rachmaninoff’s four piano concertos and Rachmaninoff’s Paganini Variations in September 2009 (piano concerti 1 and 2), in December 2009 (piano concerti 3 and 4) and in March 2010 (Paganini Variations).

If you like Rachmaninoff you can’t afford missing Valentina’s exquisite, brilliant, electrifying and delicate ‘Rachy touch’. Listen and enjoy! 🙂

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Valentina Lisitsa practices live on the web until Independance Day

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I don’t think any of the world’s best classical pianists has ever done this… but she does. Out of loyalty and gratitude to her worldwide following Valentina Lisitsa is running a live webcam inside her practice studio at home until the 4th of July (midnight to be exact).

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Buffy, one of Valentina’s cats, joined in at some point and started a piano duet… what a treat! 🙂

The use of technology to connect with an audience, like no other pianist Valentina Lisitsa knows how to do this. Her live-rehearsals involve working on recital and concert programmes that she has to perform next month. The number of pieces she’s working on in these rehearsals: 55 ! That’s FIFTY-FIVE, yes, and more than half of the material is Continue reading →

On Youtube: my portrayal of piano genius Valentina Lisitsa

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Here’s my Youtube video-portrait of piano genius Valentina Lisitsa, based on an interview I had with her in London, April 2009. I’m sure all Valentina’s fans will be interested to hear her talking on her music and career and for those who don’t know her yet -it seems there are still many music lovers out there who haven’t been introduced to her music- I think Valentina might well be an unexpected surprise, a musical gem they’ll no doubt like to hear from now on. Check out the video!

valentina-and-me-1_kleinMe and Valentina after the interview

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