Such an amazing artist! No kind of censorship can overshadow the bright star Valentina Lisitsa is! Thank you very much for your music and your determination.
With Thanksgiving Day coming this Thursday in the U.S., one has to be grateful to the good Lord for the gift of music. And for the artists who bring it to us in all its sublime beauty and vivacious passion. Bravo Valentina!
Querida VALENTINA: Desde que te conocí, sin duda alguna, eres la mejor pianista para mí. Ahora con este regalo de Brahms que nos otorgas, eres ÚNICA. Gracias Lisitsa.
I'm in a very enlightened state, even seeing the email alert for these clips got me started, having been waiting some years to hear our dear Valentina bring us Brahms as he would have, I feel very vividly, himself.... I'm going to wear out these clips as I've done some box sets of L.B. and the Vienna performing the Brahms works - so much life is brought through these visionary and generous musicians, we must know how blessed we are! Thanks so very much!!!
I have been a huge Valentina fan since the first videos and recordings. What strikes me about this Brahms collection is how once again just the right pieces are performed with a truly personal passion at just the right time. And these are pieces all too commonly performed without conviction.. Valentina Lisitsa has been such a marvelous gift to so many of us!
Thank you, Mac! I am just a humble "student' of Backhaus playing them . Not stereo from 50s but early, 1930s mono recordings. I was listening to them for a few months non-stop. It was like a drug:-)
Neil McKelvie OF COURSE wonderful playing. Remember me, years ago, knowing your name as a very strong chess player, and being surprised that you were "also" such a great pianist!! AND..I told you then about that Liszt Rondo Fantastique as being unplayably difficult and far too long for its content! Well: you've become famous for playing pieces like that that no sane pianist would ever try; but now you can show great musicianship, and the world will listen. Thank you! Now: late Schubert Sonatas?
Valentina is my favorite female pianist of our day. Her interpretations and tempos are superb. I appreciate that she knows how to dress appropriately unlike some female artists today that have to go on stage half naked. Valentina Lisitsa doesn't need to use sex appeal to attract viewers.
wonderfully intimate piano playing. These pieces may not be all that technically difficult (certainly not for Valentina) but musically they are not easy to pull off and can sound rather dull in some pianists hands. But not here. Beautifully mature balanced artistic playing. She has found the heart of the music and the soul of one of the greatest composers ever.
Wow Valentina, what a magical and intimate performance!! I loved having a "front row seat" to listen to your great interpretation and perfect performance of these legendary Brahms works!!! This is so beautifully filmed and the lighting is perfect to create just the right ambiance!! I also appreciate the fact that you separated each piece in your info box so they can be played "at will". As you know, you are my favorite female pianist in the world today and every performance is a special treat for me!! BRAVO!!! ~Jackie
I heard this masterpieces of Brahms for many years and played by incredible performers like Arthur Rubinstein or Horowitz, so I realize the kind of technical perfection they demand. Said this, the performance of Valentina shows not only her knowledge of this music but also her love for it. I could be listening her for hours!!
Valentina, you are such a gifted and generous artist and the greatest treasure you share with us is your spirit which shines through in every note played.
Enjoy many of the masters - some moe than others. I particularly love Brahms' music. He has a flare for the dramatic in some of his works, but as in some of the selections performed in this video, he has a rather melancholy maturity to his music. Enjoyed this video. As usual Ms. Lisitsa performs the music well. Her interpretation of the pieces was pleasing and warm. It seems to me she feels greater satisfaction performing these piano solo works than the heavier concerto and chamber works - unless, perhaps, she finds a orchestra/conductor that accedes to her piano style instead of attempting to bring her to their musicality. Well, that's another story... Thanks to Ms. Lirsitsa for this video - and many thanks for the other performances she has shared with her public. How generous and thoughtful...
She knows what it is to conduct the music at the highest level !! She own great musical talent - but also the deepest knowledge !! Look, listen and learn from this video!!
This recital really feels like a moment in history. Some of the most, exquisite, utterly convincing, beautiful Brahms ever offered to an audience. She is a wonderful pianist.
Мы из Москвы. Спасибо за музыку! Очень любим русских композиторов и особенно Прокофьева. Хотим больше слушать его произведения в Вашем исполнении. Надеемся услышать Вас на концерте в Москве.
There's a template made by Glen Gould - but this is different in expression and Timing. Now there are two interpretations of the same piece but different - here with a female touch of feeling and energy. Bravissimo
What a wonderful selection by Valentina Lisitsa! It is as if she succeeds in bringing Brahms soul to us, but then of course masked as piano music. And what a piano music this is!
So happy in every way to hear that Val is so deeply taken by Brahms! Her interpretation (channeling, really!) breaths so deeply that my own breath feels inexorably connected with the composer sitting at his piano. Brahms believed in the human interpretation of music and really hated metronomes or mm markings and only put them down when forced to so the fluid interpretation is so welcome! (My favorite orchestral recordings - LB with Vienna Phil - follow the same principals, see LB's writings about that as well as many others'.) Thanks again Val!! We all must write, call, text, etc. to DECCA about releasing this and more of Brahms/Lisitsa!!!
Val - Always fascinating to hear you in different repertoire, especially that as significant as these gems by Brahms. What a treat to hear these works fresh an in a new light. And the sound on your videos here is superb.
The beauty depth and mystery of Brahms, makes you want get to know more about the man behind the music doesn't it? But what a difficult man to get to know, of all people that ever lived on this Earth I am most curious about him more than anyone else. An enigma inside a riddle wrapped inside a mystery...
I call myself a music lover, but I'd never heard these works by Brahms played by anyone! That makes me a fake, I guess. Man, am I glad I found it! It is painstakingly beautiful, lovingly performed. Chopin and Scriabin have nothing on good old JB.
Takuiu muziku mogut igrati toliko o4eni talatntlivie liudi s 4istoi dusoi i toliko russkie kotorie ni imeiut koristnie tzeli. Spasibo vam za krasivuiu muziku i za vas talant Valentina, pusti hranit vas gospodi bog i mnogo tvor4eskih uspehov, vseh blag vam.
I'm 13 and I'm learning the Op.117 Intermezzo ! It's a phenomenal piece , i love it ! I am looking forward to play it like Valentina =) Greets from Brazil
bon courage aline brahms est très difficile et valentina est une grande pianiste ,, mais si tu aimes brahms et si tu travailles si tu y croies ,, écoute gilels , le maître absolu selon moi ,, et tu arriveras peut être au sommet ,, courage encore
Eu acho que a senhorita deveria esquecer este tal de Brahms e aprender algumas de minhas singelas composições. Tenho repertório que a deixará boquiaberta de encanto, garanto-lhe que desfrutará. Um abraço da Polônia. (Só não faça igual o Liszt que adorava enfiar trinados em quaisquer notas da melodia... meu Deus!!)
Valentina, You are God's gift. I absolutely adore listening and watching you play. I hope I have the opportunity to see you in person one day. I wish you all the best.
What a lovely Brahms concert with a young brilliant pianist. Wunderbar! I so deeply and inherently love Brahms it is unnatural, I also feel that his romantic piano music is second to none in the 19th century repertoire.
Wow! Beautiful interpretations! The intimacy and introspection with which they are played here (in addition to the beautifully shot video) are astounding~
C'est tellement beau. Vos interprétations sont merveilleusement expressives et révèlent Brahms dans toute la beauté de son art. It is so beautiful. Your interpretations are marvelously expressive and reveal Brahms in all the beauty of his art. Merci infiniment de partager ce trésor. Thank you so much to share this treasure.
У человека музыка имеет душу. А человек определяется своей жизненной позицией. Приятно видеть и слышать человека, особенно, когда в, так называемом "цивилизованном мире", это огромная редкость.
Bravo!!!, felicidades desde México, muchas gracias por compartir tu talento, hermosa y magistral manera de tocar Piano, mi instrumento favorito desde niño, aunque nunca lo he tocado lo aprecio más que cualquier otro instrumento. Gracias Valentina
You are very deserving of all the praise you get. Some folks say some very silly things about you but that always comes with fame unfortunately. I have just purchased your Philip Glass CDs and I am astounded by them.They show a new musical language and oh so beautifully played. My life is richer because of you, a million thanks!
Thank you for kind words, Craig! Silly words just push me to do more, they don't hurt me, at least most of the time :-) Glass was a discovery for me too. It requires totally different, Oriental if I may say , way of approaching playing it and listening to it.
Valentina Lisitsa What a thrill to get your reply. I have followed you on youtube for a long time. I have many of your CDs and have never been disappointed. My dream is to see you play but as I live in Dunedin, South Island NZ, I realise that is a lot to ask. It would be great to see you have a tour with the NZSO if that was possible. I love to watch your hands as you play, a musical ballet no less!
I am a great admirer of Valentina Lisitsa, who I was lucky enough to hear live in Avellino, Italy, a few years ago. Even though there were only a few of us at the Cimarosa Conservatory, Valentina played divinely, like the great professional she is. In the recent, difficult years, I had the opportunity to appreciate her not only as a great pianist, but also as a woman, on the occasion of the absurd boycott that the Western world decreed against Russia, including its great musical culture, guilty of having defended its borders and its own identity from intrusiveness of the Americans and their colonies. I remember with emotion the concert in Milan, where she reminded the world, in full boycott, of the great Russian piano school and Rachmaninov's Genius. Thank you, Valentina. I really hope to have another opportunity to listen to you live, perhaps in a large theatre, when this incivility will be over and we will be able again to appreciate culture regardless any flags or sense of belonging.
Thank You, Valentina !!! Wonderful, Transporting, Evocative, Moving and so much more. Sometimes, as in your case, Words aren't quite enough, and the Music does it so much Better !!!
valentina vous deviendrez une référence dans la musique de brahms ,, au niveau d'un julius katchen ou d'un emil gilels , brahms me fascine ,, je regrette qu'il n'ait pas plus composé mais il était tellement perfectionniste ,, ces oeuvres majeures exigeaient des années ,, certains virent en lui le successeur de beethoven alors qu'il me semble si éloigné du maître de bonn pour lequel j'ai une admiration sans limite ,, valentina et brahms se sont trouvés c était écrit elle peut aller plus loin encore , quelle joie d'avoir découvert valentina ,, et si quelqu'un connaît la référence de ses enregistrements de brahms mille merci
WOW, your Brahms selection has twice as views as Schumann etudes released almost on the same date :O :O I am shocked, and I've lost my bet....anyway for you it means a BIG BIG compliment, really you have my respect, because Shumann etudes are such a popular piece, and this is undeniable proof that you put something special, almost supernatural into your Brahms, something that makes him alive....not bad for Liszt girl! ;-)
When I practice my singing, my new regime is to listen to Valentina play anything for 10 minutes, and then sing for 50 minutes. Seeing this gorgeous, sensitive woman realize her great musical abilities stirs my libido, artistic and physical, on so many levels. It makes me to know that beauty is a very real thing.
00:08 Intermezzo Op. 76 #7 a minor 02:29 Intermezzo Op. 116 #2 a minor 05:30 Intermezzo Op. 116 # 4 e major 10:05 Intermezzo Op.117 #1 e flat major 14:12 Intermezzo Op .117 #2 b flat minor 18:13 Intermezzo Op. 118 #1 C major 19:15 Intermezzo Op. 118 #2 A major 23:58 Ballade Op.118 #3 g minor 27:08 Romance Op.118 #5 F major 30:21 Intermezzo Op. 118 #6 e flat minor 34:52 Intermezzo Op. 119 #1 b minor 38:35 Intermezzo Op. 119 #2 e minor 42:58 Ballade Op. 10 #1 d minor
One of the best interpretations I have heard. These beautiful autumnal, lyrical effusions contain real soulfulness and philosophical depth - I love them. The e flat minor Op 118 no 6 has that treacherous trio that is easy to slip up on. It is based on the Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) theme which Rachmaninoff loved and he included the piece in his repertoire. Valentina - bravo. I am a fan xxx
Such an enjoyable watching your interpretation of Brahms's works. Your playing is effortless, elegant and flowingly expressive through music. Thank you.
I think that the achievement of this interpretation is the sense of unity and progression of every one of the Intermezzo. A color palette, full of different tones. For that, I have to say thank you very much
I wish I had listened to you play when I was younger, I would have practiced a lot more haha. Your playing is unbelievably beautiful, thanks so much for sharing.
Thank you so much for sharing these pieces with us, you're a gift for Humanity. Long live to culture and classical music, the witness of our ancestor's beauty. Thank you sincerely :)
A longtime VL admirer rejoices at discovering this eloquent performance of the late Brahms piano pieces. It perfectly captures the wistful passion of the music -- op. 118 #6 is breathtaking here! I only wish you had included the final two pieces of op. 119 -- that delicate scherzo, so light it seems to be suspended from a spider's thread, followed by the heroic rhapsody in E-flat. If Backhaus opened the door to this music for you, it was the old DGG recording by Wilhelm Kempff that awakened my love of these gems. RU-vid has Kempff playing 117 and 119, though not from that Grand Prix du Disque recording. Even a Backhaus fan might enjoy listening to Kempff's interpretation. :-) Thanks for this lovely program, and for all the music that enriches the lives of your listeners!
ce soir je viens de découvrir valentina dans le 20 eme concerto de mozart avec son bosendorfer ,, elle était divine ,, et dire que sa carrière stagnait merci encore youtube ,, ensuite je l'ai écoutée dans chopin et maintenant brahms , quelle grâce bien qu'elle me semble encore très perfectible ,, c est dèjà une mozartienne de talent elle deviendra une brahmsienne de génie , quelle sensibilité dans le toucher , elle ressent la musique a travers son corps , et son piano magique nous renvoie ces ondes prodigieuses , mille merci valentina ,, jouez nous brahms encore ,, qui pourrait s'en lasser ,,brahms est très difficile d'accès il exige du temps et tant d'autres choses , perseverez valentina ,, merci
WHAT A CLASS ACT !!! SITTING UP STRAIGHT AND REALLY KILLER SPARKLY SHOES !!! BRAHMS WOULD BE PROUD, AS AM I - YOU DO THE MASTER GREAT JUSTICE - THANKS VALENTINA !!! LOVE YA !!! YOU LOOK AND SOUND AS BEAUTIFUL AS IT GETS !!!
You are such a great artist. Your hands float and are so very lovely, strong, tender. You are playing me to sleep dear beautiful Valentina Lisitsa.and you are healing my sadness. I bless you!
Habituellement ces pièces ne me touchent pas et, j'oserai dire, m'ennuient. Or vous nous faites découvrir toute leur dimension poétique et cela m'a captivé. Je vous connaissais comme une interprète passionnée, là il y a en plus cet art d'enchanter.
Thank you Val for sharing this performance. Absolutely fantastic! Great performance and interpretation as ever. I spent a pleasure time listening to it. Thank you so much! Hope to "see" more soon!
+Gustavo Bakker Well spotted. The similarity in this opening phrase is mentioned in "Nineteenth-Century Piano Music: Essays in Performance and Analysis."
+Göktuğ Kaya but no less than, say Chopin, so what? The piece is original even if a tiny small part sounds like something else. Would you say the same for Beethoven's middle movement of the Emperor ("Beethoven SPOOOO copied"?
+sorim1967 Wait:) Which piece piece is similar to the second movement of the 5th piano concerto of Beethoven? I must look this up. I am very curious now.
WHAT AN IMAGINATAVE AND DIFFERENT PIECE UNLIKE ANYTHNG ELSE BY ANYONE ELSE. SOUNDS LIKE A BUTTERFLY FLUTTERING WITH IMPERCEPTIBAL MOVEMENTS WITH MANY SURRISES.
