Lise de la Salle – The French Master Pianist

Soloist: Lise de la Salle, piano

Lise de la Salle is one of the most compelling new stars on the international piano scene. She plays with a freshness and clarity that few possess, and this evening she treats us to some of the most beautiful and sonorous music ever written for the piano. The programme opens with Mozart, whose music suits her flawless technique and precise touch to perfection. Her interpretation of Mozart’s sublime variations on the melody we know as The Alphabet Song sparkles with glittering trills and lightning-fast runs, and finds a natural counterpart in Ravel’s two miniature masterpieces before the interval: Miroirs and Sonatine. In Lise de la Salle’s feather-light hands, the piano shimmers and gleams as she turns up the tempo with an infectious sense of play that cannot help but sweep through the hall.

After the interval, we venture deeper into the piano’s black-and-white keys with Gabriel Fauré, setting sail on gently rocking barcarolles that brush the cheek with melodies of the finest kind. The evening concludes with some of the piano repertoire’s greatest touchstones: the two most famous and beloved ballades by the master of the instrument, Frédéric Chopin. Each ballade opens like a held breath before erupting into surging flames that test both pianist and instrument to their limits. The First Ballade in G minor is trembling and heroic, scented with rain-soaked earth and Polish longing, while the great Ballade in F minor stands as one of music history’s deepest confessions – a musical microcosm in which Lise de la Salle can unfold the full breadth of her artistry, containing everything, and then some.

The concert is part of StarPianists and the Stellar Moments Festival.