Valentina Lisitsa: Live At the Royal Albert Hall

Having conquered the internet with more than 45 million visitors to her YouTube channel, Valentina Lisitsa (Kyiv-born and now based in the US) booked and sold out the Royal Albert Hall for her much-touted British solo debut. The audience on that June evening in 2012 had requested—and were treated to—a programme of tried-and-trusted favourites. They included Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and “Für Elise,” three Chopin nocturnes (where Lisitsa’s mastery of the singing line is in ample evidence), four Rachmaninoff preludes (the famous “G-Sharp Minor” driven with bravura), as well as Liszt’s “Liebestraum No. 3,” “Un sospiro,” and “La Campanella,” which is swift and jaw-droppingly secure.