Music review: The Russian State Philharmonia with Valentina Lisitsa
The Russian State Philharmonia with Valentina Lisitsa, Usher Hall, Edinburgh *****
Lisitsa has achieved her enormous global popularity through YouTube, and has evidently translated her online stardom into a compelling, charismatic presence in more traditional concert settings. Her Rachmaninov Third Piano Concerto was – well, quite simply magnificent. She combined steely clarity and athletic articulation – seldom can Rachmaninov’s flurries of tumbling notes have sounded so sharply etched – with a generous, easy-going sense of lyricism, holding the breathtaking power she’s capable of firmly in check, only to release it in two stage-shuddering cadenzas. If there was a touch of teeth-gritted determination about her outer movements, that only served to re-emphasise the Concerto’s turbulent, restless emotions. It was far from easy listening, and it proved an ideal match for conductor Valery Polyansky’s no-nonsense incisiveness with the orchestra.
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Hide AdPolyansky bookended the concert with similarly penetrating accounts of Tchaikovsky – a taut, tempestuous Fourth Symphony, all the pent-up energy of its first movement expended in a vivid finale; and equally dramatic performances of movements from Sleeping Beauty, driven, biting and gutsy. But this was Lisitsa’s concert: she’s clearly a major talent, and one with plenty to say.