![]() ![]() Wednesday, August 15, 7:30 PM, Petrillo Music Shell, Grant Park, Columbus and Jackson 31.Īrt accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Iran Issa-Khan. There are also two Russian pieces on the program, naturally: Shostakovich’s Concertino for Two Pianos, intended as a showcase for his son Maxim, and Rachmaninoff’s craggy, monumental Symphonic Dances. Recently, she was propelled into notoriety for a number of hate-filled Twitter postings. (Percussionists Pedro Carneiro and Michael Green will play timpani, xylophone, and a handful of other instruments.) William Bolcom’s Recuerdos, a suite of three Latin dances, evokes in turn the styles of American Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Venezuelan Ramon Delgado Palacios, and Brazilian Ernesto Nazareth. Little-known American pianist, Valentina Lisitsa, created her own popularity out of thin air by posting videos of her performances on YouTube. The best known is Bartok’s vigorous Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, which calls for split-second coordination in its unison lines and rapid contrapuntal passages. Lisitsa and Kuznetsoff made their American debut in Chicago in 1991 and have been back to town often, singly and together this time they’ll tackle four rarely performed 20th-century works. They often gesture with their arms and hands or sway to the music with a synchrony that looks choreographed their breezy, endearing stage presence makes their teamwork emotionally satisfying, not just technically impressive. Though each pays attention to the other’s phrasing and dynamics to avoid dominating a performance, they achieve this balance not by holding back but by matching each other’s heights. ![]() Both have been trained in a Russian style that emphasizes flashy virtuosity and quasi-military discipline, but their musical temperaments are so similar–fiery, confident, with a penchant for explosive percussive effects–that they easily could’ve developed an aesthetic sympathy without this common background. The two met at the Kiev Conservatory, matched as duo partners by a revered teacher of the two-piano repertoire. And Ukrainian-born pianists Valentina Lisitsa and Alexei Kuznetsoff, who’ve been performing together for close to 20 years, have actually been a married couple for more than a decade–though it’s tempting to see their romantic relationship as an inevitable offshoot of their extraordinarily intense onstage rapport. Valentina Lisitsa Plays Liszt Review by Blair Sanderson Now that Valentina Lisitsa has proved herself in some of the toughest concerto repertoire and won herself a devoted following, initially via YouTube but eventually through her critically acclaimed recordings on Decca, she can relax. It’s a compliment to any piano duo to say they play like a married couple. Best of Chicago 2022: Sports & Recreation.Best of Chicago 2022: Music & Nightlife.But for sheer fun, the Hungarian Rhapsody is a terrific closer for this versatile artist.Get your Best of Chicago tickets! Line-Up Announced > Close Perhaps her most compelling performance here is of Erlkönig, which she brings off with such immediacy and intensity, it raises the hairs on the back of the neck. If you are a true fan of Valentina Lisitsa, you will want to find out before anyone else when his concerts are Enter Wegow and get your ticket Search. In a sense, though, this is equally a portrait of Lisitsa, showing all of her abilities in pieces that run a wide expressive range and demonstrate her physical power and subtlety of interpretation. 12, offering a well-rounded potrait of the Romantic master. 2 in B minor, and the Hungarian Rhapsody No. The program is an agreeable mix of Liszt's ornate transcriptions of five of Franz Schubert's lieder, an arrangement of the Danza sacra e duetto finale from Giuseppe Verdi's Aïda, the seldom heard Rondeau fantastique sur un thème espagnol, "El contrabandista," the Ballade No. She has the right balance of sensitivity and showmanship to make Liszt's music work, first of all as genuine musical expressions that have the power to move, and secondarily as fiery displays of technique that have the power to excite. That is, if relaxing is playing a recital of virtuoso solo piano pieces by Franz Liszt, one of the most demanding composers for the instrument and apparently an ideal match for Lisitsa's prodigious talents. Now that Valentina Lisitsa has proved herself in some of the toughest concerto repertoire and won herself a devoted following, initially via YouTube but eventually through her critically acclaimed recordings on Decca, she can relax. ![]()
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