Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum How can she play like this?

How can her hands look like butterflies above the keyboard but have such control? I am so jealous.
Maybe I should post this over at the teachers forum... I am not sure they visit here anymore?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLGsmMp0DgQ&feature=related

Butterfly hands aside, just listen to the music. That's the only indicator you need.

Lisitsa is a fine pianist. I would never recommend her hand posture. It is very idiosyncratic.

Did you watch/listen to her play Liszt's old war horse the Grand Galop chromatique? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYUx1-PpHAo&feature=channel

No fluffy little "butterfly hands" there. Wow, she's a fantastic pianist.

Watch her performance of la campanella

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwc-nmyPm4I

two octave 16th notes.

OMG.....and here I am struggling to play Over the Rainbow!

Both of those are just ridiculous. If she ever comes to Denver-
I'm buying a ticket!

Carl, you never know! She resides in NC, I think (that's what it says on youtube). She has tons of videos on youtube and most of them are virtuoso songs. However, she has one of her playing Fur Elise! It irks me that the crowd giggles when she begins it.

I've seen that one. And, posted it for JF on another thread. I think I detected a little smile in the corner of her mouth.

Excessive movement if you ask me but if you are going to move that's exactly how you do it. Watch and weep!

There is a discussion of this performance on the PC forum. I agree with the posters there who point out that she is playing a 4th encore and by selecting Fur Elise she is sharing a little inside joke with her audience which chuckles in appreciation. I've seen other encores which were similarly light-hearted and I think the audience reaction was fine.

In any case, she is a very fine pianist.

A month or two back I heard Ms. Lisitsa accompany Hilary Hahn in a concert in Chapel Hill, N.C. She was very good, although I have to confess that most of my attention was on Ms. Hahn's jaw-droppingly amazing fiddle technique. A memorable bit from the show was Bartok's Romanian dances for piano and violin. Someone posted a bootleg concert tape of these dances on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjBNBLgQQgA

I haven't read that discussion nor do I know the details. I am not sure what is meant by their reaction being "fine" but obviously I have no qualms from any ethical standpoint. Even with it as an inside joke, I'm sure the punch line revolves around the sentiment of this piece's supposed "banality". I hope to learn it soon and am excited to do so. So it still irks me regardless of the audience being justified in snickering.

http://www.youtube.com./watch?v=dd7Q7vhNB-I&feature=related

this one the camera is closer.

I noticed his wrist and elbow are lower than the keyboard. Bad habits, where did he learn to play like that?

Serge

One thing that is consistent throughout the Lisitsa and Horowitz videos is a sense that the pianists' hands are completely relaxed.

I once saw a local pianist perform with hands aflutter and arms moving like ballet. I had the opportunity to ask her about it after the concert. She explained to me that the movements help her to remain as free of tension as possible. She is a retired university music professor who emphasizes the importance of keeping the hands, wrists and arms free of tension.

I'd like to learn how.

Amazing.....simply amazing.