de la Salle, Luisi / Philharmonia — Zurich Opera, 2015-01-18

The first part of this evening was devoted to Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor, op.30 — a well-respected benchmark among pianists of the top league. Lise de la Salle played this concerto eloquently, with compassion — she visibly lived with the music, also in the orchestral parts: her playing is fluent, competent, aimed at a full, rounded sound…

Igor Levit — Tonhalle Zurich, 2014-10-21

Igor Levit was born 1987 in Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky); in 1995 his family moved to Germany; he grew up with the piano (his mother is a pianist whose teacher had once studied with Heinrich Neuhaus), did his musical studies at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover and finished with the best notes ever given by that institution. Aged 17, he was the youngest participant at the International Arthur Rubinstein Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv, in 2005; he won the second prize, plus several special awards, such as the special prize for chamber music, and the audience award…

Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff — Zurich Opera, 2013-12-22

Personal report on the Philharmonic Concert at Zurich Opera, 2013-12-22: Lise de la Salle and Fabio Luisi / Philharmonia Zurich — Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, op.18; Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.6 in B minor, op.74, “Pathétique”