Having conquered the internet with more than 45 million visitors to her YouTube channel, Valentina Lisitsa (Kyiv-born and now based in the US) booked and sold out the Royal Albert Hall for her much-touted British solo debut. The audience on that June evening in 2012 had requested—and were treated to—a programme of tried-and-trusted favourites. They included Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and “Für Elise”, three Chopin nocturnes (where Lisitsa’s mastery of the singing line is in ample evidence), four Rachmaninoff preludes (the famous “G-Sharp Minor” driven with bravura) as well as Liszt’s “Liebestraum No. 3”, “Un sospiro” and “La Campanella”, which is swift and jaw-droppingly secure.
Other Versions
- Evgeny Kissin
- Arthur Rubinstein
- Vladimir Horowitz
- François-Joël Thiollier
- Khatia Buniatishvili
- Lang Lang