Here’s my not-to-be-missed latest YouTube-report with brilliant pianist Valentina Lisitsa talking about and playing the Rachmaninoff / Warenberg “5th” Concerto. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Part One
Part Two
The complete raw footage of Valentina’s playing of Rachmaninoff / Warenberg in Amsterdam
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.
Valentina and producer Michael Fine
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.
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!
Me and Valentina during a coffee break
Valentina and the whole crew really loved the wonderful response from the livestream webcast’s visitors.
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 ! 🙂
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! 🙂
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).
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
Now Listen to this!
Valentina Lisitsa plays the theme of the Rachmaninoff/Warenberg ‘5th’ Piano Concerto’s 2nd movement, recorded in Amsterdam. A very beautiful interpretation, that imho combines and fuses a poetic delicacy with soulful temperament and powerful passion that only Valentina can bring out to the listener. I’m sure you’ll enjoy her playing here as much as I do.
This piano concerto is an arrangement by Alexander Warenberg of Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Symphony. The recording presented here is used with permission and part of video-material shot by Alexei Kuznetsoff (Valentina’s husband) in Amsterdam, May 2010, that features Valentina playing piano solo parts of the Rachmaninoff/Warenberg Piano Concerto #5.
Valentina was performing in The Netherlands in May 2010. On 29 May 2010 I did a video-interview with Valentina in Rotterdam on the Rachmaninoff/Warenberg 5th Piano Concerto after she played the concerto with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra on 28 May 2010.
Me and Valentina after the interview in Rotterdam
I will present this interview in a video-report later on this year combined with the video-material, shot in Amsterdam, of Valentina playing piano solo parts of the ‘5th’ concerto.
On Saturday 22 May 2010 electrifying world class classical pianist Valentina Lisitsa is performing in Leiden, The Netherlands. She’s gonna play an exciting and daring programme: two Beethoven Sonatas (the ‘Mondschein’ and the very complicated ‘Hammerklavier’) and all(!) 24 etudes of Chopin. For more information on the location and sale of tickets, click here. On Friday 28 May she will perform the Rachmaninoff / Warenberg 5th Piano Concerto (European premiere) with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Both concerts are really a must for evry lover of classical piano playing.
Valentina Lisitsa during a rehearsal in the Abbey Road Studios, London, December 2009 (photo: Pieter de Rooij)
I consider Valentina Lisitsa a once-in-a-generation pianist and one of the best classical pianists ever. To illustrate my words I’ll present below ten videos of Valentina that show the immense range of her musical powers. Most of these videos are from her Youtubechannel, which is actually the world’s best visited channel of a classical pianist. I also would like to refer to my Youtube video-documentary on Valentina’s Rachmaninoff recording project with the London Symphony Orchestra that can be found on my Youtubechannel, along with other videos I made last year in London of Valentina talking and playing. If you live in Holland and you like classical piano then don’t miss this great opportunity to hear the one and only Valentina Lisitsa live on stage in May 2010 in Leiden and Rotterdam.
1. Rachmaninoff / Etude Tableau Op 39 No. 6 “Little Red Riding Hood“
2. Liszt / Totentanz
3. Rachmaninoff / Piano Concerto No.2 minus orchestra, 2nd movement
4. Rachmaninoff / Piano Concerto No.1, 1st movement, Cadenza (my recording)
5. Chopin / Etude Op 25 No.12
6. Chopin / Etude Op. 25 No. 6
7. Chopin / Etude Op 25 No.7
8. Schubert/Liszt / Schwanengesang #13, Die Taubenpost
10. Robert Schumann / Traumerei
Voor wie het aandurft… op 31 oktober 2010 gaat het spoken in de Leidse Waag en klinken de engste klassieke composities in een HALLOWEEN CONCERT met daredevil-pianiste VALENTINA LISITSA ! Kaartverkoop via de Stadsgehoorzaal Leiden.
Klik enkele malen op de foto hierboven om het concertprogramma te vergroten
De Waag in Leiden
In January 2010 I published on my Youtube-channel a documentary – divided in three parts – on Valentina Lisitsa‘s Rachmaninoff recording project in London.
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!
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!
Me and Valentina after the interview
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 🙂