Valentina Lisitsa: Live at the Royal Albert Hall

I am not going to discuss Ms. Lisitsa's performance because you either know what she is capable of, or you don't. However, after viewing all of the clips of her on Youtube, and owning a number of her studio recorded DVDs, I feel that this live recording from the Royal Albert Hall in London is a true revelation. As I have no musical training or expertise, I can only give my opinion that this may truly be the highest quality recording of a piano recital that I have ever heard. Whether this is due to the expertise of the sound engineer, the acoustics of the hall, the preparation of the Bosendorfer Imperial Concert Grand - or a combination of all three - I do not know. The quality of the recording may reveal the odd wrong note here and there, but that is not surprising in over 100 minutes of highly technical and heartfelt playing from memory. In any case, how much better to listen to this than someone who may be 100% perfect, and has no feeling for the works being performed.The camera work, when it is following Ms. Lisitsa in close-up, is fantastic. Unfortunately, the video director must have felt that the viewer might get bored with seeing the pianist for too long periods at a time, and decided to show us in great detail (and far too often) one of the brass chandelier light fixtures at the rear of the hall. Occasional interior views of this Victorian masterpiece are appreciated and are wonderful to behold. Unfortunately, we are treated to these more often than is really necessary, or even desired.As I said in another DVD review of Ms. Lisitsa playing, this latest recording has made me even more anxious that she should start recording some of the great concerti, hopefully with a quality orchestra/conductor, sound engineer and at the same venue.

This is an easy review!!!1) Valentina Lisitsa has excess talents and gifts that dwarfs us merely well trained but privileged to be a professional musician mere mortals.2) She has technique to spare and it is flawless! She can make a grand piano thunder and roar, yet never distort, and whisper and seduce with warm melodic line and the most expressive phrasing!3) She is an extremely, in the best sense of the word, "romantic" interpreter. I will say more about this when I share my response to seeing her live with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra this past weekend. She has her own unique vision of each piece she plays yet does not exaggerate or destort the style of each era or composer of that era. One may not always agree with her choices; yet they are valid just not what one usually or always expects. She is UNIQUE!4) The sound is excellent on this DVD.5) The video is very good - it just changes a little too often with one shot from high in Royal Albert Hall that is a bit over used. There are many excellent hand and hand technique shots.6) Her dynamic range is extraordinary. Her speed amazing. Her lack of tiring phenominal. Her choice of repertoire demanding! Her pacing and sense of programing exciting.7) SHE HAS IT ALL!!!8) I saw her just this past weekend live with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra a Heinz Hall. She blew the audience away and was the talk of everyone during the intermission. She played the Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor and it was like we were collectively experiencing this old war horse for the first time. She then blessed us with two Liszt encores - "Ave Maria" and "La Campanella." Both the audience and orchestra admitted that something special had just occured and we were privileged to have been there. She made the new Steinway at Heinz Hall do everything but stand on its hind legs and take a bow. I will go out of my way to see her when ever possible. We are even lobbying to bring her and her gifted husband back for both solo concerto performances and some Two Piano Concerti. When this occurs I will update this Review!9) IF YOU GET THE CHANCE TO SEE HER LIVE DON'T MISS HER!!!10) Don't miss the Bonus material. It is excellent and especially her very personal and heart to heart talk with the Royal Albert Hall audience. After a slump in her career a friend and YouTube helped relaunch this MAJOR SUPER TALENT!11) It was truly a thrill to hear her live and discover to me anyway a new SUPER STAR TALENT. This has happened also when I first heard Leontyne Price live, Beverly Sills live, Horowitz in recital live and Gil Shaham live. She is the "real thing."12) If you are undecided as to wether to buy the CD or DVD, go with the DVD. It is simply amazing and breathtaking to she her play.13) I don't often watch or hear piano recitals; however, seeing her live made me get on Amazon and get this and a few other of her recordings. I'll listen to the Rachmaninoff Concerti next.14) Let us hope she has a long and fruitful relationship with DECCA and we get to see and hear her in a vast amount of repertoire; even the "old war horses." She has something unique and wonderfull to say and express.15) In conclusion: other reviewers have used words like love and joy when seeing or hearing Valentina perform; I would add one more word - ENCHANTMENT!

Valentina Lisitsa gets 5 stars and the camera operator with AD/HD and a fixation on chandeliers gets a minus 5. Except for the ridiculously repetitious panning about the ceiling and fixing on the chandelier, the camera views of Valentina's hands and her facial expressions at various points in the performance were excellent and enjoyable.Valentina's performance of the challenging and diverse program was, as usual, beautifully given.The pre-concert remarks by Valentina were revealing and enjoyable in that they showed her sense of humor and gave a hint of her struggle to achieve the belated public recognition which she has so richly deserved. This is another treasure to enjoy along with her other recorded works. Buy it if you don't already have it!

It's not really possible to say that one virtuoso performer is "better" than another virtuoso performer, That assessment comes down to style, interpretation and personal taste. But, suggest a few big name pianists.... Richter, Horowitz, Argerich.... to my ears and eyes she is at their virtuosic level(s). I admit I'm swayed by her personal story i.e. "You Tube", Costco, Rest Homes etc. But this woman has earned her stripes the hard way. For my money, she MAY NOT BE BETTER than any other performing pianist, but she is most assuredly their equal. The selections she chose for the "Royal Albert Hall" event were, with the exception of the Rach 3, somewhat obscure.But she played brilliantly and with great panache. Go get 'em Valentina!!

The quality of the audio recording is excellent, the video good, and Valentina Lisitsa shows off the wonderful sound of the Bosendorfer. Until I heard Valentina Lisitsa play Liszt I never liked Liszt. For me it was like seeing Van Gogh paintings in books and not being impressed - then finally seeing Van Gogh paintings in real life and being blown away! That's what she did for my appreciation of Liszt. I love her interpretation. This is a great DVD of a great pianist still in her prime. I'm not sure why, but it seems difficult to find DVD's or Blu-ray's of great pianists in their prime AND where the audio recording is of excellent quality too. This is one of them.

Musical philistine!The Director (Mathew Woodward) of the Valentina Lisitsa DVD released by Decca is clearly more interested in demonstrating his camera teams' expertise than in sympathising with the music and its playing by this very fine artist. Thus we are subjected to views of the player from all the angles his cameras were positioned at, including those from the back of the auditorium from the high level zooming one that hangs over the audience, all very clever Mr Woodward, but without any relevance to the music being played, just there to "impress" those raised on the "Top of the Pops" ethos, who think that tricky camera work/editing is as important as the music/performance itself - well, you clever dicks, it isn't! It's distracting and irritating, as bad as unending background music in films, silly and pointless.People like you ought to know something about classical music before being allowed to record it, i.e., it doesn't need this sort of insensitive pop-technique to celebrate it, rather it needs someone who knows how best to show off the performer and his/her artistry, such as where and when to show the hands, reveal the most telling facial expression, show the enraptured audience, and so on. Anything less than this doesn't qualify you to be a director of such events - and incidentally, it doesn't say very much for the artistic taste of those who employed you!

Wonderful pianist, wonderful playing, however the swooping camera effects are awful and over-used. The lurid lighting in the Hall did not help either. Throughout the whole video we seem to spend our time flying between the furthest reaches of the Albert Hall and Valentina's fingers on the keyboard. After a while I could not watch this anymore and just listened to the sound as it was making me feel seasick. Because of the camera effects I may not play this disc again, which is a great shame.

Pure class from this great pianist. Exciting performance in a superb venue. The audience loved it.

This is an excellent dvd. Valentina Lisitsa's playing is phenominal. This is the nearest I shall get to being at one of her concerts.A dvd to treasure. DVD in excellent condition.

I had the great good fortune to be at the Albert Hall and to hear this fabulous pianist amd her equally fabulous Bosendorfer grand, from only a few feet away.Now this DVD gives you pretty much the same unmissable experience.