Lise de la Salle’s tenth album for Naïve Classiques was released worldwide on June 4, 2021. When Do We Dance? is the pianist’s personal tribute to the art of dance in a dynamic program of repertoire from around the world written between 1850-1950 by George Gershwin, Art Tatum, William Bolcom, Fats Waller, Astor Piazzolla, Manuel de Falla, Alberto Ginastera, Maurice Ravel, Camille Saint-Saëns, Bela Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Alexander Scriabin, and Sergei Rachmaninov.

In this Classical Post exclusive Q&A, pianist Lise de la Salle talks about the program and why now is the perfect time for giving people energy and making them want to dance.

Classical Post: The album was inspired by your lifelong love of dance, having danced throughout your childhood and even taking classes today when possible. Is there a particular dance, musically or physically, that you love and/or knew needed to be included on this program?

Lise de la Salle: I’ve been surrounded by dance since childhood, and I adore it all, but when it comes to the piano, the waltz inspires me most. In fact, it runs through all the ages, I think this is because the instrument is perfect for it – a swaying three-time bass and a delightful, captivating melody. Also, the waltz is a dance that must be shared. Many musical styles arouse the senses, but not all instill to such an extent the emotions one feels in the movement of the body and sharing that energy with another.

CP: Why did you choose to program works from 1850-1950?

LDLS: With so many dances and so much music to play, I could take ten albums to tell this whole story. So, I decided to focus on one century but travel the world. I believe this is the most fascinating period in the history of all the arts, alive with new rules and techniques, and an explosion of potential – not just in music but also in literature, painting and dance. It all explodes, and the twentieth century opens up to a new modern world. This gives rise to new emotions of incredible depth. When Do We Dance? is a journey through this century to explore the different ways in which dance takes possession of the body: with an amazing swing in North America, developing a  strong sensuality in South America and Spain, with reserve, elegance and sophistication in France, or through the expression of a late, sentimental romanticism in eastern Europe and Russia.

CP This disc – though only spanning one specific century – encompasses so many musical styles, from Gershwin to Bartók to Ravel to Fats Waller.  What do you hope listeners will take away with them after listening to the program as a whole?

LDLS: My number one focus when performing is to tell a story, and to take my audience on a journey with me. This journey is an immersion in a variety of different worlds, linked together by the main thread of rhythm and movement. Each country, each continent has its own personality and sound. The Jazz pieces which open this CD could never be considered monochrome: they vibrate to the iridescent colors of the rainbow, subtly diffracting the shimmering colors. The colors become sharper and more distinct as you travel through the different countries. In South America, music is extremely sensual and requires a physical, almost palpable, sound matter, as if the piano was the continuation of the body – as in Spain, which forms the link between the Americas and Europe. Then we come to France, where the color inevitably changes: the repertoire requires a very clear, crystalline sound – the color of champagne. Finally, Bartók and the Russians are in a passionate and very expressive register – it’s a warm red, the color of the heart.

“This album is all about giving people energy and making them want to dance.” — Lisa de la Salle

CP: You recently had the opportunity to perform the When Do We Dance? program at La Scala Paris, not only for a streaming audience but also a live one. What did it feel like to be able to share this particular program with an audience in attendance after such a long and difficult year?

LDLS: When I designed the program it was before COVID, but after this full year of closed everything and people having this depressed mood and down moments, it’s a very happy feeling to share this album and to play for an audience again.

CP: Have you, yourself danced to the album? (We certainly have and highly recommend it!)

LDLS: It is difficult to dance to my own interpretations but in choosing the program and discovering all this new repertoire, I certainly danced to many pieces. What makes me happy is knowing many of the people who listen to the album are indeed full of dance moves, and body energy afterwards.

WHEN DO WE DANCE? 

Lise de La Salle 

AMERICA 

When Do We Dance? – George Gershwin (1898-1937) 

Tea for Two – Art Tatum (1909-56) 

Graceful Ghost Rag, From Three Ghost Rags – William Bolcom (b.1938) 

Vipers Drag – Fats Waller (1904-43) 

ARGENTINA 

Libertango – Astor Piazzolla (1921-92) 

Danzas Argentinas | Argentine Dances Op.2 – Alberto Evaristo Ginastera (1916-83)  

SPAIN 

Danza Ritual Del Fuego | Ritual Fire Dance, El Amor Brujo | Love the Magician – Manuel De Falla (1876-1946) 

FRANCE 

Valses Nobles Et Sentimentales – Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) 

Etude En Forme De Valse, From Six Études Op.52 No.6 – Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) 

HUNGARY 

Roman Nepi Tancok | Romanian Folk Dances sz.56 – Béla Bartók (1881-1945) 

RUSSIA 

Tango – Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) 

Waltz in A Flat Major Op.38 – Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) 

Polka Italienne – Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) | Transcription Vyacheslav Gryaznov (b.1982) 

About Lise De La Salle 

Since 2001, Lise de la Salle’s international career has taken her to the finest concert halls in Europe, the United States and Asia. These include the Berlin Philharmonic, New York’s Avery Fisher Hall, the Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, Beijing’s Grand National Theatre, the KKL in Luzern, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Herkulessaal in Munich, the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, the Philharmonic in Saint Petersburg, the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. She has performed with the greatest orchestras and conductors from all over the world.  

Her first album devoted to Ravel and Rachmaninoff in 2002, unanimously hailed by critics, marked the start of her partnership with the Naïve label. All of her recordings have won numerous prizes and prompted press like Gramophone Magazine to hail her as “a talent in a million.” Lise de la Salle was born in 1988 and began playing the piano at the age of four, giving her first concert, broadcast live by Radio France, at age nine. At thirteen, she made her debut with Beethoven’s second concerto. Between 1997 and 2004 she won numerous competitions (notably first prize in the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York in 2004).

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