James Lisney gets up close and personal with Chopin (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

James Lisney gets up close and personal with Chopin

3:24pm Tuesday 16th October 2007 in News & Previews By Nancy Groves

A close association with a composer - even one long dead - is a real aid to performing their music, says James Lisney.

Following the success of his summer Beethoven cycle, the Hampton-based pianist returns to the Riverhouse Barn this autumn with Masterworks, a new recital series highlighting individual composers.

First up tonight is Frederyk Chopin, with whom Lisney boasts a direct association through his late teacher Phyllis Sellick.

"I'm a great-great-grandpupil of the man himself," explains Lisney. "Phyllis died earlier this year and it was only at her funeral that I took in what she represented. She used to spend the afternoons at Claridge's with people like Vaughan Williams, she knew the Sitwells, and her own teacher was a pupil of a pupil of Chopin. It makes you realise how quickly the generations pass down."

And the connections don't stop there. While important to every pianist, Chopin's piano music has been central to Lisney's repertoire ever since his formal debut at London's Wigmore Hall in 1986.

Last year saw his acclaimed all-Chopin recital at the same venue and recent engagements have included concerts in Valdemossa, Majorca, where the composer wrote some of his most famous piano music, and closer to home, a recital on Chopin's Pleyel piano at Hatchlands near Guildford.

Tonight's Riverhouse recital will feature his Fantaisie in F, Sonata in B and the so-called funeral' Sonata in B flat, one of Chopin's most arresting works.

Says Lisney: "I always think of Arthur Rubinstein's comment that when he played Chopin, it always communicated. The music speaks to listeners of all nationalities and all levels of knowledge, from the professional musician to the innocent music-lover.

And it's always a challenge, even more so than the obviously difficult Lizst. I really believe in tackling music that is better than can be played."

Later this season, the spotlight will shift to Schubert and his Impromptus, which Lisney recently recorded for his Woodhouse Editions label. It was the innovative Schubertreise series at the South Bank Centre that helped establish Lisney's international reputation. But in his view, concentrating on one performer is as beneficial to the audience as it is to the musician.

"I always find that after these concerts, people drop the comments on your peformance and talk about what surprised or moved them instead," he says. "After a while, they stop thinking about you and concentrate on the music."

Masterworks, Riverhouse Barn, Manor Road, Walton-on-Thames, Chopin: Wednesday, October 17, 6pm and 8pm; Schubert: Saturday, November 17, 6pm/8pm; £12 each, includes glass of wine, call 01932 253354, visit riverhousebarn.co.uk.