Alice Sara Ott, LSO St. Luke's

German-Japanese violinist Alice Sara Ott (The Chopin Project) has achieved a startling amount for a musician of twenty-seven. Her recordings, including collaborations with Olafur Arnalds and Francesco Tristano, have gained both acclaim and commercial successful. Critics have noted her unstoppable energy and mental fleetness, matched by an impeccable technique. When she filled in for Lang Lang with the LSO, The Guardian declared it “the kind of gawp-inducing bravura performance of which legends are made.”
This October, Ott will visit LSO St. Luke’s for a BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert. The programme centre around two of the greatest romantic pianist-composers – Chopin and Liszt – along with modern master Bartok. Ott will open with the latter’s Romanian Folk Dances (1915), a set of six miniatures that draw on melodies from different regions of Romania. Chopin’s exquisite Three Waltzes (1838) follow, before Ott plays the Scherzo No. 2, one of the composer’s most extensive and exploratory pieces.
The recital closes with two works by Liszt, which through near contemporaneous display completely different aspects of his career. The Six Consolations (1849-50) are a suite of contemplative, reflexive works, heralding his later turn to religion. Then there is the fiendishly difficult Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (1847), immortalised in numerous films and cartoons. Once considered a rite of passage for would-be virtuosos, it remains one of the definite showpieces for a gifted player. There can be little doubt that Ott will deliver it with aplomb.