Special offer. When Do We Dance?
Lise de la Salle (soloist)
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, August 2021, Recording of the Month
Musically she’s a chameleon, capable of completely changing her colour at the drop of a hat, and that versatility is what makes this new recording such a success...It’s a neat idea, which she...
Special offer. When Do We Dance?
Lise de la Salle (soloist)
Purchase product
Awards:
-
BBC Music Magazine, August 2021, Recording of the Month
Musically she’s a chameleon, capable of completely changing her colour at the drop of a hat, and that versatility is what makes this new recording such a success...It’s a neat idea, which she...
About
Four years after her boundary-breaking album ‘Bach Unlimited’, pianist Lise de la Salle presents an extremely personal odyssey inspired by her love of the dance and her fascination with the period 1850 to 1950.
More than just a question, Lise de la Salle’s ‘When Do We Dance?’ is an invitation to a voyage, “one that explores the different ways in which dance takes possession of the body.” A voyage in time, through a whole century (1850-1950) with the accent on modernity; a voyage over the oceans, from North America to Eastern Europe, criss-crossing Argentina, Spain, France, Hungary and Russia; a voyage to the very core of rhythm, that essential anchor point for the dance as for music in general, that enlivens the ragtimes of Gershwin and Bolcom, Bartók’s folk dances, a waltz by Saint-Saëns and a tango by Stravinsky.
Pursuing her synchronic route with radiant versatility, this French pianist moves freely around the globe, encompassing diverse cultures with as much poetry as virtuosity, by turns setting the piano aflame with sensuality in Ginastera’s Argentine Dances, making it sound impishly seductive in 1930s swing, exquisitely refined in Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales, or powerfully romantic in a Valse by Scriabin.
There are evergreens, such as Art Tatum’s take on Tea for Two, Gershwin’s When Do We Dance? and the Ritual Fire Dance by de Falla. There are also several less familiar pieces to discover: Stravinsky’s Tango, Rachmaninov’s Polka italienne and the Étude en forme de valse by Saint-Saëns.
As a luminous pendant to this amazing multi-journey to the four corners of the globe, we can read a declaration of love: Lise de la Salle’s own tribute to the art of the dance that has forever fascinated her. To her own wonderment, at the piano she finds dance simply flowing through her and she is constantly learning from it, this pianist for whom “dance is a pleasure to be shared with others,” as it divulges its secrets.
NB The Debussy Mazurka listed is included in the download as an additional track, and does not featured on the CD release.
Contents and tracklist
Spotlight on this release
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Awards and reviews
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BBC Music MagazineAugust 2021Recording of the Month
August 2021
Musically she’s a chameleon, capable of completely changing her colour at the drop of a hat, and that versatility is what makes this new recording such a success...It’s a neat idea, which she carries out with panache.
Jan/Feb 2022
There is no question that Lisa de la Salle has matured as an artist, and as usual she has assembled an interesting, intelligent program. Moreover, her piano is beautifully recorded. Highly recommended.
August 2021
She clearly has a genuine fascination for the world of dance, and she demonstrates much technical fortitude and a fine ear for blending and voicing. She’s also sensitive to the distinct characteristics of cultures as they meet and clash.
