Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Valentina Lisitsa at Royal Albert Hall

I find most of the criticisms of Lisitsa's posted thus far to be both too subjective and too unspecific to be very unconvincing. I did not think all of the selections were played at a very high level although I thought some were very well played, but I also think comments like those below would not be made by a teacher at a master class because of their nature as explained in the previous sentence.

"But beginning with Mozart Fantasie, I felt that she was very tense, not to make a single mistake, and this continued with the Beethoven too. I can speculate that she was advised to play more freely and not care too much during the intermission. Which IMO, showed some evidence in the Rachmaninoff."(Seems like pure speculation to me.)

"if she doesn't feel the music"

"she played two heartless back to back Rach preludes."

"i'm sure they touch you more than Lisitsa's playing"

"nevertheless I do feel touched by her personality, she feels the music and thus she moves me."

"I can forgive mistakes but the clunkiness (sorry , but that is the best description I can come up with) of her interpretation was a real problem."

"Her playing/technique also lacks a certain level of finesse and refinement that can be found in that of extremely high level pianists. She pushes her technique too far outside of her physical limitations and that makes her sound amateurish to be honest. For comparison:" The poster then compares her playing to Perahia, who is one of the greatest pianists in the world.

"IMO, she is not a true pianist/musician. She really can't listen to what she is playing." What's a "true pianist? How can one possibly know what another pianist is hearing?

I find most of the criticisms of Lisitsa's posted thus far to be both too subjective and too unspecific to be very unconvincing. I did not think all of the selections were played at a very high level although I thought some were very well played, but I also think comments like those below would not be made by a teacher at, for example, a master class because they are so nebulous.

I find most of the criticisms of Lisitsa's posted thus far to be both too subjective and too unspecific to be very unconvincing. I did not think all of the selections were played at a very high level although I thought some were very well played, but I also think comments like those below would not be made by a teacher at, for example, a master class because they are so nebulous.

"But beginning with Mozart Fantasie, I felt that she was very tense, not to make a single mistake, and this continued with the Beethoven too. I can speculate that she was advised to play more freely and not care too much during the intermission. Which IMO, showed some evidence in the Rachmaninoff."(Seems like pure speculation to me about her nervousness, reasons for her nervousness, and what she was told during intermisssion. I don't think a huge percentage of her fans expect her to play flawlessly and are attracted merely by her technique. There are plenty of other pianists with big technique.)

"if she doesn't feel the music" (IMO there are very few pianists who have devoted tens of thousands of hours to practice who don't feel the music.)

"she played two heartless back to back Rach preludes."

"i'm sure they touch you more than Lisitsa's playing"

"nevertheless I do feel touched by her personality, she feels the music and thus she moves me."(talking about a different pianist)

"I can forgive mistakes but the clunkiness (sorry , but that is the best description I can come up with) of her interpretation was a real problem."

"Her playing/technique also lacks a certain level of finesse and refinement that can be found in that of extremely high level pianists. She pushes her technique too far outside of her physical limitations and that makes her sound amateurish to be honest. For comparison:" (The poster then compares her playing to Perahia, who is one of the greatest pianists in the world.)

"IMO, she is not a true pianist/musician. She really can't listen to what she is playing."(What's a "true pianist"? How can one possibly know what another pianist is hearing?)

What's to get? She found a bug in a dressing room, and decided to interview it on camera 4tehlulz. Hilary Hahn did a similar video with a goldfish I seem to remember.

Never mind all the people at her recital whose hearts were touched. An artist must communicate specifically to Quaver Pyjama's heart to be a true artist.

All creation is influenced...

Lol, I laughed at this one
I know I'm annoying when I post annonymously on the internet, but in real life i'm a nicer person - I don't nag people with my artistic purism.
(well, sometimes I nag my colleagues but it's rare! )

Her performance of Liszt's transcription of Schubert's Ave Maria was magnificent IMO.

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