10 Questions With: Lise de la Salle

Pianist Lise de la Salle answers The Classic Review’s 10 questions.
Where will she most likely find inspiration? How many hours does she practice each day? And what are the classical music albums she couldn’t live without?

What new repertoire are you currently working on?

I don’t have too many big concertos left that I don’t play, but I am currently working on a huge project: learning Brahms’ second piano concerto. I’m just at the very beginning of learning it and will perform it for the first time in November. I have always wanted to play it, but it’s known to be extremely hard and extremely long. I’ve played Brahms regularly in the past years and I adore his music, so this is the time to learn this monster of a concerto.

What’s a piece of music you don’t currently play but wish you could?

I’ve mentioned the Brahms second, but I would also love to play Prokofiev’s second piano concerto. I will probably play it eventually.

What was the latest contemporary music piece that impressed you?

There is a French composer, Guillaume Connesson, whose music is quite extraordinary. I heard it maybe six months ago, performed by an orchestra. I was also recently impressed by a piece for organ by Thierry Escaich.

🎧 Hear Guillaume Connesson on Apple Music
🎧 Guillaume Connesson on Amazon

Are there any classical composers whose music you don’t quite connect with?

This may seem a bit contradictory to my previous answer, but I would say that I’m not really a big fan of contemporary music. I don’t know if this is a good answer, but it’s just that I’m rarely touched by music of the 21st century.

How much time do you dedicate to practicing each day? What are your best tips for developing effective practice habits?

To me there is no clear answer to this question. There are days I am at home doing all of the things that normal people do – like taking care of my laundry, or banking, or running errands. There are times that I am home with my daughter, trying to spend as much time with her as possible. And there are days when I am traveling or performing. It is always different. I practice every day (although I usually do not practice on Sundays when I am home, because the neighbors are all at home as well). But there is no real routine, which is a nice thing.

I try to do most of my practice while I am on tour. I usually request a dressing room with a piano and full access. The work needs to be done, so I have made the choice to sacrifice the tourist part of my life when I’m out playing. I might go to one museum or see one big attraction because I love art and culture, but I focus mostly on practicing.

I am also quite efficient. I try to focus as if it were a real job. When I am in front of my piano—at home—I am very focused and try not to be tempted by anything else, like answering emails or packing my suitcase for my next trip. I try to stay at the piano. I suppose my advice is to really dedicate yourself for an hour and a half or two hours in a row with no interruptions. Also, set your goals beforehand – ask, “What do I want to do today?” – and go further if necessary.

Lise de la Salle (image: ©️ Emilie Moysson / Naïve)

How do you find inspiration when performing?

I really need to walk on stage being fully ready, or at least as ready as I can be. That means not feeling stressed or worried about difficult spots in the music, knowing that every passage is secure. I have to do this so that I have full availability to think about and connect with the music.

I believe you express in music what you already carry inside yourself. It’s not so much about sudden inspiration as it is about how your experiences—visiting museums, attending theater, listening to music, reading—inform your perspective. All these encounters nourish you. You have to put something into your music, and you can’t do that if you’re empty yourself.

Do you experience performance anxiety? If so, how do you manage it?

I am always a bit nervous. Sometimes I’m more nervous when it is a bigger gig, or a bigger piece, or the first time playing something. But I always have this little feeling that tickles. I think it is a good thing, because you need that little bit of adrenaline. You do not want to feel the same going on stage as you do walking into the grocery store. You need that kind of excitement.

“I believe you express in music what you already carry inside yourself. It’s not so much about sudden inspiration as it is about how your experiences inform your perspective”

If music wasn’t your passion, what other career path might you have chosen?

For me, music was an easy path – when I was four, I told my teacher that I wanted to be a pianist, and I never changed. I never had any doubt, I never second-guessed it. It was a feeling that never left. But I have two answers, even though they were always just in my imagination: Because I enjoy food and wine tremendously, I would love to be a great chef in a Michelin-starred restaurant.

The second is a kind of childhood fantasy – I’ve always wanted to save the world, to be a Police Commissioner or a District Attorney. Someone who is solving mysteries and catching bad guys. I have a really high sense of justice and fairness in the world.

What advice do you have for young musicians starting their careers?

It is hard because you never have any guarantee that it is going to work out. But you cannot have any chance if you do not give yourself fully. There is never any certainty, but you cannot do this job if you are not fully in love with music.

What classical music album you couldn’t live without?

Many! I have an obsession with Mozart’s Don Giovanni – especially the film version directed by Joseph Losey with Lorin Maazel, Ruggero Raimondi, Kiri Te Kanawa, and José van Dam.

🎧 See on Amazon

I also have a true passion for the Vivaldi Edition albums on naïve – one was La verità in cimento – I listened to this every day for four or five years when I was in my 20’s, and I still listen to it regularly.

🎧 Stream on Apple Music
🎧 See on Amazon

As for piano recordings, there is a recording of Prokofiev’s fifth piano concerto by Sviatoslav Richter that is really dear to me. And I also have a real affinity for the Beethoven piano sonatas by Artur Schnabel.

🎧 Stream Beethoven – Piano Sonatas – Schnabel – Apple Music
🎧 Schnabel performs Beethoven on Amazon

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Pianist Lise de la Salle’s new album, Phantasmagoria will be released on Naïve Classiques on February 14, 2025. The album celebrates de la Salle’s longstanding affinity for the works of Franz Liszt, and includes his Piano Sonata in B minor; the Cantique d’amour from Harmonies poétiques et religieuses iii, and Réminiscences de Don Juan.

Visit Lise de la Salle’s website, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.