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Hola Guys!

A few weeks ago, I read through the paper and saw that Valentina would be playing Saints-Saens 2 with the local symphonia here, and I thought to myself... If I was able to contact Jeffrey Biegel and Tommy Otten for a lesson while they were there..... why not Valentina Lisitsa!?!?

My teacher and I emailed her website address as well as her agent and got a really warmhearted response from Val herself. She said she'd love to do a class and if she could... even perform some infront of us as she's working on alot of pieces.

Last Monday I went to see her play the Saints-Saens... very well done except for some missed notes in the first movement and a wrong entrance in the 3rd... but heck, i couldn't have done better . At intermission, my teacher and I rushed backstage to get to talk to her in person. WHAT A DOWN TO EARTH PERSON! Never have I met someone so humble about their gifts. She was really worried about where to practice so we set something up for a few days last week at a retirement community on their Yamaha grand (forget what size).

Tueday she played S-S again and knocked it out of the park! She did a fantastic job... more relaxed and soooo clean.

On Wednesday night... my teacher and I went to watch her practice and get some pointers. I played the end of the Mendelssohn concerto and she gave me some great suggestions on how I could be sitting a little high for my height and how posture really afects the touch at the piano. Then my favorite part of all... she let us stay and watch her practice for three hours! Greatest practice session of my life! She played Rach3 minus orchestra for us and it was almost as perfect as it could be. She then played some Beethoven sonatas that she was going to perform later that week. Wonderful!

Here are some videos from said practice:




It's fun meeting a star that doesn't act like a star.

Just wanted to share that.
Matt

Great story, Matt. You are one lucky dude! If you haven't, pop on over to my thread and check out her Rach Sonata 1.

Thanks for sharing!!

This girl's a monster ... a bit inconsistent as some of her performances do nothing for me, others i love, but i get the impression she doesn't get as much recognition worldwide as she gets at pw.

A experience to remember for the years to come! I'm glad you were so lucky.

Several other PW members have also met her. We attended a concert, she held a master class, and we had a PW party at Cathy Harl's in Alexandria Va a couple of years ago.

She is fantastic and seemed to enjoy sharing with us.

Glad you had the same experience!

Sounds wonderful! What other Beethoven sonatas did she play? I know she said in a recent YouTube interview that one of her goals is to learn all 32.

Daniel

She also played the Moonlight and Op. 10 No. 2 for us. Then the Rachy moment musicals

Matt

I noticed the video of Beethoven's Les Adieux ended right before the notoriously difficult part. I guess she flubbed it?

One thing about her that impressed me was how she can get a good tone out of any piano. When we were at Cathy Harl's shop, she and her husband were playing on some of the cheapest pianos there -- little Chinese baby grands -- and they sounded almost as good as they did on the Boesendorfers. She really has that Russian-style technique drilled into her muscles (but not in a bad way!).

LUCKY! I am uber jealous! I bet you were hanging on the edge of your seat watching her give a solo Rach 3 :P

WOW! I am so jealous, I'm lost for words. That must have been an incredible experience.

@plus - my "oldschool" flip phone only takes about 15 seconds of video. She played the entire sonata and probably no more than 3 slips for the entire piece. Very well done.

@PianoAgain - Val made a big point that she does not "subscribe to the Russian piano technique" . She further explained that "in Russian piano technique you play with your behind". It was interesting to see how she sits lower on purpose to use less behind i guess haha.

She also was able to blend with the smallish orchestra during the Saint-Saens soooo well. She can hear her volume and adjust I'm guessing.

@Drunk The funniest part of the night was her husband and 4 year old son showed up at the end of her practice that night. her son runs up and jumps in her lap, begging to play RAch 3. She played the entire first movement again for us... with her son in her lap. So funny. My teachers got a picture or a video of it... i'll try to get that from her and upload that.


Matt

Wonderful way to get a first-hand view of his mother's technique!

I was just joking about the video ending right before the hardest part/

It would've been more impressive if she had watched you practice for three hours.

I once sat in a on a revolving three hour penny-ante card game with Horowitz, some piano technicians, a Borscht belt comedian, and a Juliard alum or two over Pastrami sandwiches and Dr, Brown's cream sodas in the basement of Steinway Hall in my youth.

Pics or it didn't happen.

I'd bet Valentina would love to have a copy of that photo. That looks like a great moment between mom and son.So few get captured by a camera.
Thank you for sharing Debussy20.

Seems like yesterday that I saw her perform while pregnant.

1) 4-5 years already? Time flies!
2) Lucky kid!

I wonder what the child of two accomplished classical pianists wants to be when he grows up.

Daniel

Debussy20:

Can you tell us a little more about her practicing session?

Did she run all the way through the pieces you mentioned or stop to practice certain parts several times? Did everything look totally effortless like on her Youtube videos?