That's what happened to me in 2007 when I discovered Valentina. I was watching her play Chopin "Ocean Sonata". Thought someone was messing with the video.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ZTjJjda31rc.html
I know she's recorded this piece several times on youtube but this version's my favorite because she actually looks possessed while she's playing it and ugh it's just so flawlessly executed
I love everything about this video. Valentina's dress, the way she stares at her hands as though they were disembodied, hunched over the keys while her hair responds to the inertia created by her movements. God. The imagery gets stuck in my mind for days after each viewing!
This is excellent. People like to accuse Lisitsa of lacking emotional investment and creativity but her interpretation of this piece is original, haunting, and masterfully executed. I really enjoyed listening to this.
They weren't kidding when they said Rachmaninoff was the best Pianist of his time, creating some of the most influential compositions of his time. He unlocked some of the deepest melodic secrets of the piano. How can someone create something like this. He was a BEAST.
Valentina, what you do with the piano is so amazing. As you know there are many very accomplished pianists in the world but you are unique, one of a kind. You bring to life sounds; the intensity of passionate music and the wonderful tenderness of delicate passages. They are all yours to command. We are so blessed to have you perform for us and to have such a record of your performances is indeed a gift. And on top of all this you are a simply a grand lady! Thank You!
I don't know how many times I've watched this. This performance is what makes piano performance worth listening to and watching! I'm a die-hard fan of Valentina and my wife is a bit jealous :-) Truly, the distinguishing of 2 characters (the villain and the victim) in this piece is so evident and is not produced by any other artist but Valentina. Bravo V!
Yo acabo de descubrirla por recomendación de otro pianista. Es increíble su habilidad para tocar a diferentes intensidades con tanta claridad y con saltos entre notas tan grandes 😵💫 Da miedo que exista gente tan habilidosa en algo😂
I am lost for words . the sheer speed in which she played this made me think at first that it was sped up so the music played at the right tempo but I wasn't... it was all her and I am amazed and at awe at her skill. She is an angel of music and I feel honored to have watched this clip. To be able to speak to her or see her in person would be something so marvelous it could only be in dreams, and there for couldn't exist in reality.
Sie ist die beste pianistin ,die diese Stueck spielt,sie bringt Toene zum klingen,die kein anderer sonst so rausholt. Bravo !!! unschlagbar , wunderbar
Remember seeing this video back in 2008, and my jaw dropping at 1:14. Seeing it again today, it's no less amazing. Realizing that this video actually kicked off Lisitsa's fame, I can now be a hipster and say I listened to Lisitsa before she was cool XD Not that she wasn't cool back then either though.
Cody Wang the same thing has just happened to me! When I first watched this video no one knew about her, it was not so mainstream. Now, after a few years ... I discover she's become a star (as she deserves to be!)
Same here, I also saw this video when it was just released, and I notified my colleagues (Amsterdam, VU University), some of whom also started to adore Valentina! One of them even went to a concert of her because of my tip. I am often an "early adopter", there are such wonderful musicians out there that are not yet well-known.
I’ve watched this video many times for years, and never commented. I can’t get enough of it. The long blonde hair, the dress, the way she has total command over the piano, the dazzling presto section. It’s a tour de force. I’ve heard a recording of Rachmaninov himself playing this, and at the risk of sacrilege, I actually prefer Valentina’s interpretation. Rach himself was among the greatest of pianists. Listen to him play his transcription of Tchaikovsky’s Lullaby op 16 no 1. The musicality is profound. The last piece he ever wrote. Brilliant beyond words. But Valentina nails this piece, among many others. She’s the best of us. An amazing musician that makes me glad to be alive right now to be able to hear her play.
Truly genius. I listen to other interpretations, but they don't convey the true sense of the piece. I always come back to yours... thank you so much for making such wonderful music.
Eu, Comendadora Dra. Profa. SYNTURE RAWA SPITZ HAHAMOVICI,não me canso de admirar tamanho virtuosismo. Provavelmente, esta virtuose há de ser a maior pianista da atualidade. Execução impecável, técnica perfeita, talento monumental, mesmo.....parabéns, Valentina Lisitsa!!!!!
I love 1:49 to 1:50 That little passage is so hair raisingly scary it even makes Valentina's hair fly when she hits the final base note after the downward run! 😁😁❤😁😁
Almost 10 years since you posted this Val...wanted to say you're videos revived me...and brought me back to my first love...writing classical music...I was so dry like burnt toast...it was since a child that I had passion for playing and writing...then a young gal, trained and skilled beyond belief, who couldn't get a job at senior homes to play for patients...stepped out and tried out this thing called RU-vid...and encouraged countless 'dreamers' like myself...Bless you!
This piece and video is my favorite, FAVORITE piano ever of Valentina Lisitsa I can ever here. Thank you, thank you so much of giving me such an opportunity to listen to magnificent performance.
Since you are not a pianist, nor athleticist, why do you care? All you, and your companions need to understand is that this is beyond your comprehension.
There's no effort, it's just perfect. Is this really a human being playing? I think it's the very spirit of Music, incarnated in this beautiful young woman!
been my favorite pianist for 10 years since before this vid came out. shes incredible. practices 12-14 hrs a day whenever she has the chance. she is the embodyment of talent+hard work.
Unbelievable ! I have never seen anyone play the piano so fast and so well. I even have the impression that the piano is struggling to keep up with your virtuosity. Big kisses from FRANCE Valentina, you are mind-blowing to see, and your brilliance of genius lights up our lives. Thank you very much !!! 🎹🎶👌👍💪👏🔥🇫🇷💖🇺🇦
I don't know of any composers who write like this today. I just finished a work for piano and orchestra in the romantic tradition, modeled after Franck's Symphonic Variations that is here on RU-vid, but I'm the only one I know. I seriously doubt I could get a pianist interested in premiering it because everyone expects today's composers to sound like traffic jams. On a positive "note" I found this video back in 2002 or so and was knocked off my feet by Ms. Lisitsa's performance. WOW!
this is a very faithful rendition of the piece. there's an album 'a window in time', also in youtube, that has a remastered version of rachmaninoff playing this very piece. her style is very close to rach's although of course who can beat the composer himself.
Could u give me a link to this Rachmaninoff performance please? I'm starting to learn this piece and I'd like to see the original composer's interpretation of this piece ;)
I wish you recorded this exactly as it is but in 4k. This version is so raw with blood all over it. Like your family died or you went bankrupt or a mother suffered a miscarriage or something.... so so so good I never get tired of this version. Piano sounds awesome it goes straight into your soul (the other version ofc is very good, I mean, you're Valentina Lisitsa, if you know what I mean, but that one has a little bit too much reverb, ahhh, I hope you don't feel I am complaining, I just LOVE this version so much). The dress adds the cherry to the pie ;)
This is one of the first videos I watched on RU-vid and haunted my piano life. And of course this video was the primary reason for continuing the piano after having stopped for years. 🎹
It is a thing of beauty to watch you play. You really feel the music and make your listeners feel it as well. I am in awe of your impeccable technical and interpretative talent. I say this here because I am unable to comment in your channel, and this is something that just must be said. Whoever coached you as a child must be incredibly proud of you. Bravo!!
Hard to see anyone topping this perfomance of this piece, even Lisitsa herself. The speed, passion, chaos, and raw emotion make this truly terrifyingly good and do the piece and the composer justice.
Excellent, brilliant. Rarely do I experience so strongly an expression of emotions by an artists accompanied by and through technical virtuosity. Her touch varies by sentiment, almost totaly ignoring physical (bodliy) constraints. In this, she is our dancing partner - a master ballerina taking us reluctant amateurs by the hand and dancing us through the maze of her art and onto a blissful, lighted opening. See, she says, here, it's here.
To paraphrase an old comment I that loved, that poor piano had to go for some serious counseling after that performance. Tension, creeping terror, and glimpses of sheer malevolence. Delicious.
Fine, exemplary in fact, but it's a pity there's no video of Cziffra playing this. He's the real big bad wolf who would have the other pianists for lunch!
When I was a kid growing up in Russia - my parents made me take piano lessons for like 4 years. I learned just enough to be TRULY blown away by this video.... Also - guitar's much more my speed ;o) Valentina - Thanks for the treat! Spasibo!
I am happy at last I am seeing websites talking about valentina the fame she really deserves. Thumbs up for you Valentina - a heart melting expression of your magic fingers and your mutual dialogue with music and your honest reflection of undiscovered meanings of a composition. the latest article I read said alot about your talent and your top rank amongst contemporary classical pianists... but I hope one day soon I will see more ears turning to this unique piece 'etude no.6'. Very Well played
Most non-musicians are impressed by this level of skill. It's the "inability to comprehend" exactly what's going on that gives that kind of awe. Even as a musician myself, I'm flat out BLOWN AWAY by your skill and this fantastical performance. Rachmaninoff speed and dynamics are completely above me and you make it look so easy. BRAVO!
You are the greatest woman pianist I have ever heard.....And you play the Chopin Etudes better than most of the top ten men performing on stage today.....And if Chopin or Liszt were alive today, they would have asked you to marry them after hearing you play.
This will forever be the standard by which I judge all interpretations of this piece. The creepiness factor of 0:46 forward is amazing. Everyone else seems to plow through it; Ms. Lisitsa obviously gave this piece some serious thought.
