Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Jan Lisiecki plays Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Chopin

Recorded at Verbier 2011



Program:

J.S. Bach
Well-tempered Clavier (Book II -- BWV 870-893) 00:00 - 07:41
Prelude and fugue No. 14 in F sharp minor, BWV 883

Beethoven
Piano Sonata No. 24 in F sharp major, Op. 78 07:42 - 18:10
1. Adagio cantabile
2. Allegro vivace

Liszt
Three concert etudes S 144 18:16 - 38:30
Il Lamento
La Leggierezza
Un Sospiro

Mendelssohn 38:30 - 50:20
Variations Sérieuses, Op. 54

J.S Bach
Well-tempered Clavier (Book I -- BWV 846-859) 50:30 - 56:34
Prelude and Fugue No. 12 in F minor, BWV 857

Chopin
Etudes, Op. 25 56:36 - 1:29:35

Valse, Op. 64 No. 2 1:29:35 - 1:34:00

Nocturne in C minor, Op. posth. 1:35:10 - 1:40:20

Nice to see someone program Il Lamento and La Leggierezza. You almost never hear the first and seldom the second. I love them both!

I do wish people would stop playing the ossia at measure 60 in La Leggierezza.

Cute bow-tie and shirt.

I don't have time to listen to all of this right now, but I listened to the Mendelssohn, and he has very good control with the light technique. I could be wrong, but I do like a tad more "meat and potatoes" with this piece in some places. He does some artistic licence in places I find a bit odd, but that might be my problem of not understanding his musical mind and imagination.

And he plays this piece better than I do.

But I really want to bring it back out... It's such a great work. I think it's Mendelssohn's best piece for solo piano (actually, the only one I REALLY enjoy).

I followed him during the festival and I loved him. I think he is really great for his age!

He's incredible for any age, in my opinion: I heard him play the Chopin 2nd Concerto live, and it was absolutely transcendental. Better yet, when he signed the copy of the score I brought with me (with a beautiful fountain pen and peacock blue ink), and I asked him where he was going to be for the rest of the concert, he said "backstage, want to come?"

I'd talked to him many times on Facebook in the preceding year, but it was still a profound pleasure and surprise to get to see him outside of the busy public sphere. My mom and his mom got on well, and spending time with Jan was the most delightful mixture of serious talk about music, travel experiences of all kinds (good and bad), and impish silliness!

It's nice to know you don't have to be a hermit like Gould or as finicky as Horowitz to be a true genius, or at the very least, a budding genius! =]

Lucky!

We are looking forward to Jan's return to his hometown of Calgary on November 30.

http://www.cpo-live.com/main/event_detail.php?event_id=516

He was at Ravinia last March. The recital was advertised in the local Polish community (second in size only to Warsaw, I believe) and that brought in many people. He gave the Paderewski Minuet as an encore, prefacing it with "I prefer the Liberace [another pianist of Polish extraction]interpretation," and accompanying it with a pretty good imitation of old Lee mugging at the audience, although without the candelabra. So he does have an impish sense of humor.



Somewhat to my surprise, I found out on a recent internet search that my great-great uncle Wesley Fletcher Orr was the first mayor of Calgary.