Jan Lisiecki, the 17-year-old pianist from Calgary, is CBC Music’s classical artist of the month for April. His debut album of Mozart concertos will be released next week on the Deutsche Grammophon label. In today’s Artist of the Month update, Lisiecki plays some J.S. Bach and reflects on maturity versus innocence when it comes to tackling big repertoire.
A solo recital by Lisiecki typically includes music by Bach. In fact, when he tours Germany, Austria and Belgium later this month, he’ll play two preludes and fugues by Bach, including this one in F-sharp minor:
Bach tops Lisiecki’s current list of favourite composers. When planning his concert repertoire, Lisiecki says he often begins with Bach. “I believe it is important to have a foundation in a recital program, and very frequently I use Bach for that purpose,” says Lisiecki. “Bach is then a springboard for sharing the music of other composers with the audience.”
The other composers in question generally include Frédéric Chopin, whose piano concertos Lisiecki recorded while still in his early teens with Sinfonia Varsovia under the direction of Howard Shelley. John Allison, reviewing the album for BBC Music Magazine, described Lisiecki as “perhaps the most ‘complete’ pianist of his age,” playing with “sparkling technique as well as idiomatic pathos.”
One wonders how someone so young can grasp the emotional breadth of this music. “I think there are two sides of the coin here,” says Lisiecki. “I haven't yet experienced love, so how would I play Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2 well? On the other hand, the reason people may like my Chopin CD is because I'm innocent, immature and inexperienced!”
Inexperienced in life’s lessons, perhaps, but Lisiecki’s stage experience is considerable and growing. So far in 2012 he has performed at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, the Barbican Centre in London and the Zurich Tonhalle.
In next week’s Artist of the Month update, Lisiecki tells us about his experience recording Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 20 and 21 for his upcoming Deutsche Grammophon release.
Related links:
Jan Lisiecki: Classical music artist of the month
Letter from London: Honens quarter-final update
Seeking sublime: classical music that transcends the everyday