Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Valentina Lisitsa in Practice.... LIVE

I heard once from an acquaintance who works in the music "industry" that many rising pianists learn and maintain vast amounts of repertoire so as to be able to jump in as replacement for a more prominent artist. Often this affords them a great opportunity for future bookings if things go well. Apparently organizers at large venues favor minimizing additional disruptions to the program and prefer to replace their canceled artist by either an equally famous pianist or a more obscure one who would stick to the announced program.
I don't know how universally true that is or if it even applies to Ms Lisistsa's 55 pieces. But nobody plans to perform that many different pieces in a single year, to my knowledge (and I often scour concert schedules )..

She probably does plan to perform that many pieces in a year, some pianists like to have many different programs.

Remember when the rolling stones said during one tour no two concerts would have the same set. Though, it is probably difficult to maintain that number of pieces, hence the crazy practice schedule. Or maybe the opportunities to practice won't be there on the road.

I do not think it speaks to how good or bad she is as a pianist, we all see how good she is, and it is up to each of us to form our own opinion of that. How she maintains that in the end is her own business.

My own personal opinion was I did not like watching someone else practice. Two things go through my head, first and foremost, why am I not practicing? The second is I sometimes feel that it is simular to the magician who reveals how to do his tricks, it takes away more in the end. It takes away of the amazment I have of the performer. This is still true, despite me knowing how to practice, or at least know a way that has worked for me. Each pianist is unique and brings something new to the table, something to be amazed of.

There is something missing here. Her performances are much more musical and nuanced than these practices, which tells me these are really efforts to maintain note-perfect performances and maintain a memory of these pieces. Where does she get the time, then, to work on the music? It just doesn't appear magically after doing 14 hours of practice like this every day.

Agree with Numerian. I remember reading somewhere (and being told by my teacher) that Neuhaus often recommended that his students visit museums, read world literature, music history etc so as to enrich their artistry. At some point, there has to be more than note readiness. I am not saying Lisitsa does not seek to enrich her artistic side. I simply do not know much about her, but surely occupying oneself with this practice for 14 hours a day leaves little time for much else.

I also wonder when does a performing pianist really put together a piece, ie architecture, tempo modulation and other nuances. Does it simply occur at the time of performance or does she /he "plan" it or study it ahead of time? Or, as is more liekly the case, does it vary among pianists?

She mentioned in a chat session after one of her practices that she likes to read; in fact she likes to read history. Maybe influence of Neuhaus.

After that much practice and complete technical mastery of the pieces she is playing, all that is left to focus on in concert is the musicality of the piece.

Perhaps when ones technique is as formidable as Lisitsa's and one's memory as prodigious, its far easier for one to be spontaneously musical.

Once you can play the notes with the speed, dynamics, and accuracy that you want, the musicality should be easy (not to mention, subjective).

Yes. And furthermore, this was only one week. I don't think we can assume that every week for her is like this one. I'm sure she will have plenty of time on airplanes and in hotel rooms to practice away from the score and work on the things that aren't physical.

Was anyone else surprised by the level of (un)readiness of Brahms PC2, given that she'll be performing it in 1 week? It's amazing to me how quickly someone like that can bring up a piece to performance level. I know she's played it in the past, but from her schedule it looks like the first performance of the piece in 2010.

One of the professors at my university is a big advocate of avoiding spending too much time perfecting each musical element of a piece. Rather, he says, one should have the technique to be able imagine as they play, while freely transferring your imagination to the piano. So, one should never really play the piece exactly the same every time.

I think Valentina actually has a more flexible approach too playing her pieces than most - just look at the different renditions of Rach's op. 36 no. 6.