Lise de la Salle WHEN DO WE DANCE?

 

WHEN DO WE DANCE?

Daniel Hope BELLE ÉPOQUE

                                                                BELLE ÉPOQUE

Christian-Pierre La Marca / Lise De La Salle PARIS-MOSCOU

There has always been a mutual fascination between France and Russia. And it continues today at the heart of this programme that we based on a unique coupling of works from the great repertoires of two superb composers of the same era: Gabriel Fauré and Sergei Rachmaninov. Following in the footsteps of the Romantic Movement begun by Chopin (who directly inspired Rachmaninov’s sonata) and Schumann (whose vocal oeuvre inspired Fauré), we are transported into a musical world at the very heart of an age, at the crossroads of late Romantic music and new experimentation with musical languages.

Our aim was to highlight the unique and different styles and languages created during the same period. This allowed us to underline the aspects of heritage and transmission, with Saint-Saëns, who taught Fauré who in turn would perpetuate a typically French tradition, or with S.Rachmaninov who, despite their occasional differences, was greatly inspired and influenced by P.I.Tchaikovsky, himself one of the guardians of Russian romanticism. Indeed the latter showed a special attachment to France by making frequent visits to Paris – he was a regular at the Café de la Paix – and his admiration for the work of another French composer, E.Lalo.

During my research, it became evident to me that I wanted to link the instrumental approach with a vocal approach according to writing and style. This is undoubtedly due to my numerous partnerships with great singers who continue to fascinate me. In my mind, the voice is the symbol of all that is natural and evident in a musical phrase. This has given rise to unique programmes (such as the previous albums – French melodies in “L’Heure Exquise” and sacred vocal pieces in “Cantus”). 

“Paris-Moscou”, an album devoted above all to the wide repertoire for cello and piano, also includes opera through transcriptions of French and Russian pieces of the same period. It is the result of a quest, which, through these musical gems, emphasizes both the tender lyricism and great virtuosity of the cello. (Christian-Pierre La Marca)

Lise de la Salle BACH UNLIMITED

In just a few years, through her international concert appearances and her award-winning Naïve recordings, 29 year-old Lise de la Salle has established a reputation as one of today’s most exciting young artists and as a musician of uncommon sensibility and maturity. Her playing inspired a Washington Post critic to write, “For much of the concert, the audience had to remember to breathe… the exhilaration didn’t let up for a second until her hands came off the keyboard.” 

A native of France, Ms. de la Salle first came to international attention in 2005, at the age of 16, with a Bach/Liszt recording that Gramophone Magazine selected as „Recording of the Month.“ Ms. de la Salle, who records for the Naïve label, was then similarly recognized in 2008 for her recording of the first concertos of Liszt, Prokofiev and Shostakovich – a remarkable feat for someone only 20 years old. Recent recordings offered works of Schumann and the Complete Works of Rachmaninoff for Piano and Orchestra with Fabio Luisi and the Philharmonia Zurich. 

The 2017-2018 season will see the release of a Bach-focused disc on Naïve including the Italian Concerto, the Liszt Fantasy & Fugue on the Theme B.A.C.H. and the Bach/Busoni Chaconne.

“Bach…where everything begins.”

Since the 18th century, a number of composers have paid hommage to Jean-Sebastian Bach, often considered the musical touch-stone: the perfect balance between science, form, expression and emotion.

Preludes and Fugues; transcriptions; or the musical motif made from the letters of his name: these hommages have come in many forms. In the captivating and fascinating programme by Lise de la Salle, we find works by Bach himself, Poulenc, Busoni, Roussel and Liszt. And then, like a fresh breath of air from the heart of our current century, interspersed between the works of the masters we find four new pieces commissioned from the pianist Thomas Enhco. The result is an essential, modern recording, an unprecedented journey into the essence of music, in which Lise de la Salle exhibits all her pianistic talent, as well as a profound intellectual knowledge.

It’s a long-considered recording, subtle yet powerful, that marks the 15th anniversary of the rich collaboration between Naïve and Lise de la Salle.

Lise de la Salle SCHUMANN

"I’ve always listened to a lot of Schumann. He fascinated me when I was a little girl of six or seven. I’ve always been attracted by the manic side of him, his very individual ‘touch’, and I’ve always loved surrendering myself to his music. I feel very close to it. But although Schumann is one of the composers I get most out of, I waited a long time before I played him ‘seriously’... I think I didn’t want to risk being disappointed by myself. I couldn’t bring myself to imagine that everything I had dreamt about this music might not take shape exactly as I wanted. So I waited until I was completely ready, and that moment came a few years ago. The Fantasie was the apotheosis of those dreams of mine. So I built this programme around it. As for the Kinderszenen, I often played the piece Der Dichter spricht as an encore; I think it’s extraordinarily evocative, yet without any trace of technical demonstration – the power it packs into just a few notes is deeply moving to me. In a recording, I especially like to take the listener by the hand and set out to show him or her the greatest possible number of things. I always try to find a trajectory in my programmes. That’s what we have on this disc: beginning with the Fantasie as my starting-point, I double back to the very start of Schumann’s career with the Abegg Variations, then I follow the course of the short pieces, very varied in atmosphere, that make up the Kinderszenen. A musical journey needs those contrasts, and Schumann draws the essence of emotion from them." (Lise de la Salle)

“Her selection is sufficiently individual to make comparison a marginal issue, and so too is her playing, which once more displays a distinctive personal eloquence...For Clara Schumann the Fantasie was beyond wonder. Such unbridled joy is reflected in de la Salle's bold and impassioned response.” (Gramophone)

Lise de la Salle / Staatskapelle Dresden / Fabio Luisi CHOPIN Ballades - Piano Concerto No. 2

France's Naïve label has heavily promoted the career of the young pianist Lise de la Salle, who was 22 when this recording was made. Her fashion-spread good looks fit with Naïve's design concepts, and she has the ability to deliver the spontaneous, unorthodox performances the label favors. How does she fare in a field extremely crowded with Chopin recitals? Her performances certainly aren't derivative of anyone else, and this live recording from the Semperoper in Dresden (you get a one-minute track of just applause at the end) has a good deal of attention-getting flair. The standout feature of De la Salle's performance, in the four ballades at least, is her orientation toward slow tempos, inventively deployed. The ballades are somewhere between moderately slow and much slower than normal, but De la Salle is not trying to create a deliberate mood. Instead the operative adjective is "dreamy." She applies a good deal of rubato in the quieter passages, and against this backdrop the big tunes emerge as bright colors flitting across the landscape -- as dreams of the sun, perhaps -- rather than as lyrical anchors of the music. De la Salle does not lack power, but she applies it sparingly and explosively. It's undeniably an odd treatment of the ballades, but it's quite absorbing, and hearers' reactions may well be as idiosyncratic as the readings. The Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21, is more conventional and benefits from sensitive accompaniment from the Staatskapelle Dresden under Fabio Luisi. Naïve's live production values are very high. (James Manheim)

Lise de la Salle LISZT

Lise de la Salle is pursuing an impressive international career and is performing at the major concert halls of Europe, the United Stated and Asia. She plays recitals and is regularly invited by major orchestras and works with the conductors Fabio Luisi, Lorin Maazel, James Conlon, Osmo Vänskä, Philippe Herreweghe, Semyon Bychkov, Alexander Dimitriev, Lan Shui, James Gaffigan, Karl-Heinz Steffens, Lawrence Foster, Dennis Russel Davis and many others. She has also worked with Sir Charles Mackeras.

Her many festival appearances include e.g. the Ravinia Festival, La Folle Journée in Nantes and Tokyo, the Moritzburg Festival, Rheingau Music Festival, Weilburger Schlossfestspiele, Aspen Festival...

Lise de la Salle plays concerts in London (Wigmore Hall), New York, Moscow, St. Petersburg, in Berlin (Philharmonie), in the Lousianna Museum, in Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Paris, Munich, Boston, Montréal, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Moritzburg, Lucerne, Buenos Aires and others, as well as Orchestra concerts with the Vienna Symphony in New York, with Boston Symphony, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Lucerne Symphony orchestra, NDR Hamburg, Orchestre National de France, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh Orchestra, NHKSO, the Tschechische Philharmonie, London Philhamonia, St. Petersburg Symphony orchestra, Staatskapelle Weimar, Chicago Symphony, Munich Philharmonic and many others.

She toured amongst others with Bamberger Symphoniker, Orquesta Nacional do Porto and she will tour with the Dresdner Kapellsolisten (Southamerica), Prague Philharmonia, Rotterdam Philharmonia.

A first disc dedicated to Ravel and Rachmaninov, unanimously acclaimed by critics, was the beginning of her cooperation with the record label Naïve Classique in 2002. 4 more CDs followed, all received several awards and great reviews.

Beginning of September 2011 her new CD was released again with Naïve. This new CD, dedicated to Liszt was awarded the Diapason d’Or, the ARTE "CD of the month“ and the Grammophone "EDITORS CHOICE“. It received amongst others an outstanding review (“world class playing”) from International record reviews.

Born in 1988, she started to play the piano at the age of four and gave her first concert, broadcasted live by Radio France, when she was nine. From 2003 until 2005 she studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris – CNSM, where she enrolled the post-graduate cycle. From 1997 until 2004 she has worked closely with Pascal Nemirowsky and she followed the advice of Geneviève Joy-Dutilleux for a long time. Between 1997 and 2004 Lise de la Salle won numerous competitions among them the first prize at the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York which gave her the opportunity to make her debut in New York and Washington.