Piano Solo – Lise de la Salle

The acclaimed French pianist Lise de la Salle has appeared at Konserthuset on several previous occasions, both in solo recitals and with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Most recently, in 2024, she was soloist in Mozart’s dramatic Piano Concerto No. 20. We now have the pleasure of welcoming her back, this time in a recital devoted entirely to fantasies.

Some of the most distinguished composers in piano history here loosen the reins and follow their inspiration. It is truly a remarkable collection of fantasies that Lise de la Salle presents.

Schubert’s monumental Wanderer Fantasy is a brilliant example of his extraordinary wealth of ideas. Works of this kind are closely related to improvisation, and it is not difficult to imagine Chopin at his Pleyel piano, feeling his way forward through the opening bars of the Polonaise-Fantaisie, allowing the music to unfold as it will.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s son Carl Philipp Emanuel was a brilliant improviser, and his slow fantasia, with its virtuoso flourishes, at times recalls the spirit of a modern-day Keith Jarrett. Together with the fantasies of Brahms and Scriabin, this is a concert shaped by musical imagination in its most spontaneous form.