Piano recital Valentina Lisitsa in Haarlem: a triumph!

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


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

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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Documentary on Valentina Lisitsa’s Rachmaninoff Project 2009-2010

In January 2010 I published on my Youtube-channel a documentary – divided in three parts – on Valentina Lisitsa‘s Rachmaninoff recording project in London.

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London, December 2009: me and Val at the end of a joyful day of stunning recording sessions in the Abbey Road Studios.

Valentina’s Rachmaninoff project concerns the recording of piano concerti 1 to 4 and the Paganini Variations and probably a few pieces for piano solo. The documentary focuses on the first phase of the project, the recording of piano concertos 1 and 2. Interviews with Valentina Lisitsa, conductor Michael Francis and producer Michael Fine are alternated with impressions of the recording sessions.

Documentary: Valentina Lisitsa’s Rachmaninoff Project 1/3

Documentary: Valentina Lisitsa’s Rachmaninoff Project 2/3

Documentary: Valentina Lisitsa’s Rachmaninoff Project 3/3

Hope you’ll enjoy this!

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Valentina Lisitsa’s highly addictive piano magic: a playlist

valentina_playing-chopin Valentina Lisitsa

A while ago I made a playlist on my Youtube-channel of some electrifying video’s of the incomparable, one and only Valentina Lisitsa. Highly recommended, but with a warning: this ‘piano magic’ is highly addictive stuff, before you know it you can’t get enough of it! Can you take it? Find out here 🙂