Rachmaninov: The Piano Concertos; Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (2013)

performed by Valentina Lisitsa (piano), London Symphony Orchestra, Michael Francis (conductor)
composed by Sergey Rachmaninov

Classical music has by and large been late to the online party, but Ukrainian-born pianist Valentina Lisitsa has had what may become seen as an archetypical classical career for the Internet age. Emigrating from Ukraine to the U.S., and possessed of a formidable technique built up since age three, she found herself in competition with a host of other above-average pianists from the former East Bloc, and her career went nowhere. She happened to try out YouTube just as that medium was exploding, and her steely speed hit a ... Read More

Classical music has by and large been late to the online party, but Ukrainian-born pianist Valentina Lisitsa has had what may become seen as an archetypical classical career for the Internet age. Emigrating from Ukraine to the U.S., and possessed of a formidable technique built up since age three, she found herself in competition with a host of other above-average pianists from the former East Bloc, and her career went nowhere. She happened to try out YouTube just as that medium was exploding, and her steely speed hit a sweet spot, racking up hit counts numbering in the tens of millions. Even that did not immediately attract recording companies, but she and her husband sunk $250,000 of their own money into a series of Rachmaninov recordings with the London Symphony Orchestra, heard here, and some associated concerts. Mob-level crowds at those concerts finally did the trick, and the four Rachmaninov concertos plus the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43, were released on Decca in 2013, four years... Read Less