Product Details

• Actors: Valentina Lisitsa
• Directors: Alexei Kuznetsoff
• Format: DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Region: All Regions
• Number of discs: 1
• Studio: ValalProductions
• DVD Release Date: September 15, 2005
• Run Time: 64 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000ASKK2K
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #93,673 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly visionary work, October 6, 2005

By 

Pavel Stetsenko (Washington DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Valentina Lisitsa plays "Schwanengesang" (The Swan Song) by Schubert (Transcription by Liszt) (DVD)

This latest DVD of Valentina Lisitsa is a thoughtful essay that communicates on so many levels - philosophical, aesthetic, mystical, visual, aural, and intellectual. One must remember that Liszt's arrangements of Schubert's Lieder were written not to dazzle the audience with the performer's pyrotechnics but to take the listener by the hand and lead him into to the rarified realm of the Schubertian poetry. These piano pieces are not mere transcriptions but illuminations, gleanings, or commentaries of one artistic genius (Liszt) on the works of the other (Schubert). Similarly, this DVD is a clever extrapolation of that idea. Valentina, an artist of truly prophetic vision and extraordinary prowess, brings to life this philosophical discourse between Schubert and Liszt. In the process, the line between performance and mystical act is blurred. The artist and her crew behind the camera never insert themselves into a conversation between the two geniuses but intelligently articulate the main outline of the discourse.

It's important to remember that the main difficulty with a song transcription lies in its loss of the programmatic content. When a singer performs a song, the listener hears both the intellectual content (words) as well as its emotional carrier (music - pitches, rests, dynamics etc.) However, once the song is transcribed for piano, it is implied that the listener is familiar with the original, and the piano transcription serves as a musical postcard, its flat image is a memory anchor that brings to life a familiar scene, all in one's own memory. What if the listener has never heard the original song material? Valentina and her crew came up with an ingenious idea of supplying subtitles, much like it is done in most modern opera houses. Thus all the channels of communication are open - THE INTELLECTUAL in the form of the supplied lyrics, THE VISUAL - the superb video sequence that begins as an act of worship by lighting the candelabra, and THE AURAL in the form of the ineffable and mercurial playing of the artist herself.

Lastly, one interesting detail caught my eye: the artist plays all pieces from memory (her memory is legendary), yet music is placed on the stand as if it were a sacred scroll, similarly to an open Bible on the church pulpit. What a nice and subtle touch! In it, I read an artistic statement, "I follow the spirit of the score, not the letter."
To sum up, this DVD is a truly visionary work of beauty and depth.

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Valentina!, September 15, 2005

By 

Lotus-Seven (The mountains of Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Valentina Lisitsa plays "Schwanengesang" (The Swan Song) by Schubert (Transcription by Liszt) (DVD)

Ms. Lisitsa's performance is simply amazing! She makes the technical difficulties of playing these works look effortless and has captured, and even amplified the mood of each song superbly. Most impressive is the way she can get right to the core of each individual work. She has clearly given much thought to how each song should be interpreted and has done a wonderful job of putting her own stamp on each one.

Unless they have no soul, anyone who watches and listens to this recording will immediately feel the somberness and foreboding in "Die Stadt" and "Kriegers Ahnung" and the eerie nightmare atmosphere of "Der Doppelganger", as well as the beautiful flow and clear melodies of "Abschied" and "Standchen". Ms Lisitsa's handling of the canon-like second repeat in "Standchen" is nothing short of miraculous. She succeeds in playing the multiple melody lines and accompaniment in a way that sounds like it is a "piano-four-hands" performance. I could go on and on, but my main point is that she has really succeeded in capturing the subtleties of each song so clearly. BRAVO!!

The DVD sound is excellent with the clarity, timbre and bass power of Ms. Lisitsa's reconditioned 1925 Bosendorfer captured realistically.

Pianist Alexei Kuznetsoff, someone who clearly understands this music, did production, direction and editing. I was certainly not expecting such a dramatic visual concept. The strong initial mood of the DVD is set with Ms. Lisitsa walking into the room carrying a single candle and then proceeding to light a candelabra. Only a few camera angles are used and the feeling is that of attending a live, but very private, event. Editing is sparse but always complements the music. The viewer also has the option of English or German subtitles (or none at all) which are appropriately sized and do not interfere with viewing Ms. Lisitsa's flying fingers. The dramatic, "high-key" lighting also really fits the music. The video ends with a single candle being extinguished -- a fitting dramatic touch signifying the end of Schubert's last compositions.

Highly recommended.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A transformative DVD, June 11, 2006

By 

Douglas Milburn (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Valentina Lisitsa plays "Schwanengesang" (The Swan Song) by Schubert (Transcription by Liszt) (DVD)

So many DVD's of classical music are over-produced: fancy lighting, dizzying and intrusive camera movements, excessive cutting. Not so here. Kuznetsoff clearly knew the music's the thing. Wearing black, Lisitsa plays in a nearly dark room. Just the performer, the wonderful, almost-antique piano (beautifully recorded), and you the viewer. If ever Liszt managed to do justice to another composer, it is in his work on these fourteen last songs of Schubert. Lisitsa does justice to both transcriber and composer. A riveting, seductive, transformative performance.