Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sergey Prokofiev, Lise de la Salle :: Piano Works by Mozart & Prokofiev [includes DVD]

In concert a loud disappointment

villegem | canada | 05/03/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Reading a review of her Canadian debut in Vancouver on April 29, 2007, one would imagine that a rousing standing ovation greeted Ms. de la Salle's performance, hardly the polite slow rising one she received. Ms. de la Salle credentials are impeccable, so impeccable that the CD pitch came before the recital not even at intermission: simply put, we had to like it or else... And the reviewer, not surprisingly, proceeded from the same line of thought.



Juxtaposing classical Mozart and neoclassical Prokofiev set the stage for an interesting programme indeed! I concede that the recital started well and the Sonata offered some nice moments although slightly contrived: it was the art of representation as opposed to the art of transformation i.e. the feelings portrayed were acted not lived. Granted, a teenager won't have Mr. Brendel's experience. Virtuosity is a blessing but could also become a curse: in her case this led to exaggerating every move, fast or slow, breaking the classical pulsation. This out of style Mozart culminated with the Rondo which became openly romantic Chopin like, quite surprising for a Paris Conservatory pupil. The final Mozart piece "Ah Vous dirais-je Maman..." variations kept on pressing the same obvious style where delicacy, grace and tenderness were absent. By now one was looking towards Prokofiev for relief as it was becoming increasingly evident Ms. de la Salle had nothing new to add to her heavy handed Mozart.



Ms. de la Salle sound is forced rarely graceful. Her shoulders are tense because she presses on keys a lot instead of controlling the hand weight with a free arm. Thus it was no surprise she muscled her way through Prokofiev. The Sonata became an intellectual exercise, virtuosic and abstract. But it is the Romeo and Juliet suite that exacerbated the misgivings of Ms. de la Salle forceful approach. Romeo and Juliet, a tender love story set in a backdrop of violence and family feud immortalized on the silver screen by Zeffirelli. Prokofiev's brilliant music reflects this classic tale and offers soaring moments of absolute beauty. Well, Ms. de la Salle rendition offered none of this. Her insistence to over blow musical traits led her to almost lose it during the syncopated "Montagues and Capulets" renowned theme. Moreover, slow movements were painfully lacking colors and dramatic tension as her sound faded quickly, failing to carry her thoughts. The audience mind wandered away, lost count of the movements, and as a result they applauded too early or too late... Finally, it was an understandably tired soloist who concluded with a rough Toccata.



At 14 Ms. de la Salle in her first recording revealed a promising talent. Her second CD did not confirm as Bach, like Mozart last night, was treated romantically. Her emphasis on the right hand melody at the detriment of counterpoint betrays a rather homophonic hearing. It is truly sad to see how a brutal rise to fame can damage the blooming of a precocious talent and one wishes her to meet a teacher truly interested in freeing her from this over hyped mono dimensional impasse. She would then become the voice the media claims she already is.

"

An Interesting Recital Program with Some Odd Mannerisms Mixe

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 05/10/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Like the previous reviewer (villegem), I heard Mlle de la Salle play this precise program in a live recital at Middlebury College just two weeks ago. But I've also listened carefully to this 2CD set (and watched the half-hour DVD about her) and I must say that I share some of villegem's concerns about de la Salle's tendency towards mannerism. In the first movement of the Mozart D Major Sonata, for instance, she does some strange pushing and pulling of the basic pulse usually when she approaches a change from loud to soft dynamic: at those times she suddenly puts on the brakes, inserts a brief caesura and then does a (to me) irritating agogic prolongation of the first soft chord. I have no idea why she does this -- and to be honest she does it a bit less obtrusively in the recording than she did the night I heard her recital -- and she also does some old-fashioned chord rolling, something I haven't heard many pianists do like this for possibly forty years. I wonder where she got this? Having said that, otherwise I quite like most of the set. The Mozart Rondo is quite lovely. She plays the 'Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman' variations without a speck of whimsy or wit and thus they come across as more serious than they need be.



Once we get to the Prokofiev, though, it's an entirely different matter. Here she mostly shines. Her Toccata (with which she ended her recital but which comes first on the second CD) is a barn-burner. This is a certifiable knucklebuster that can easily get out of control. Mlle de la Salle displays fantastic control and one has the sense that she is making music as well as playing lots of notes; this is one of the best performances of it that I know. One has the same feeling in the faster portions of the cocky Third Sonata which was, all told, the highlight of the set for me largely because de la Salle understands Prokofiev's ironic nose-thumbing. When we get to the Romeo and Juliet pieces she turns on some entirely appropriate romantic sensibility. My only complaint is that she isn't perhaps as swept away with ardor as the music might suggest. But she gets the hieratic style of 'The Montagues and Capulets' just right.



The DVD is actually the flip side (Side B, if you will) of CD 2, the Prokofiev disc. I'd never seen this arrangement before and it took me a while to figure it out. It contains a short documentary that consists of some short musical excerpts along with conversations with the pianist (who has just turned eighteen) and those who have been involved in her career -- e.g., her teacher (Pascal Nemirovsky) and her mother -- which are conducted, of course, in French. English (or German) subtitles are supplied. I didn't find it particularly revealing and doubt if I'd watch it again.



Scott Morrison"

Great in performance

swimjay | Berkeley, CA | 01/26/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"With respect, I have to differ with California and Villagem, while acknowledging their greater knowledge of the piano. Lise's technique seems to have evolved to handle the most percussive elements of the repertoire--Prokoviev, Liszt-- but what I found most interesting was how this technique applies itself with the less percussive--Mozart, Chopin. Where another performer might play with more legato, emphasizing dreamier and more poetic aspect of the works, she maintains a kind of brilliant clarity, but without ever being hard. It's a playing of great intelligence, and, surprisingly to me, implies no diminution of emotional connection. One never has the feeling one is being lulled; the notes have great clarity of relative weight and value. One feels, at the best moments, that one is hearing the music with years of dust blown off it.



I worry that, though she handles the bravura work very well--I've never heard Prokoviev's Toccata sound so warm, with no loss of drive (I think she outdoes Argerich in the clarity her playing's overall dynamic envelope)--such work may ultimately prove expensive for her physically, though it suits the needs that promoters and managers have for crowd-pleasing, high impact pianism."