@@clausesanta5042 Take notice of people like wedemeyer - they are really just trying to divert the attention away from their own sexual hang ups and penis envy. I'm with you Santa - what can I have for Christmas?
Yes, her tempo is close to Rachmaninoff himself, for example Kissin plays it faster and with less musicality. It's the best interpretation since Rachmaninow.
I understand that Lang lang’s proficiency and dynamics are beyond compare. But i cant even describe how amazing Yuja Wang is. Her consistency and balance and the way she emphasizes this piece and any pieces without altering the melodies is mind-blowing to me. Every note is clear and carries a characteristic with it. She plays gracefully with her beauty and soul.
Yuja is way way way better than Lang Lang Lang Lang is way to dramatic and flamboyant, which appeals to the crowd But if you only listen to the pieces they played, Yuja's way better.
Perfect tempo. Yuja is the best interpreter I ever heard of this dramatically piece. It is the Russian soul mirrored. She is playing with all her soul and body all together.
Ah, Rachmaninoff & Yuja?! The Classical Review Wang’s powerful virtuosity stronger on flash than depth in Boston recital May 13, 2018 By Aaron Keebaugh Yuja Wang performed Friday night at Jordan Hall for the Celebrity Series. Photo: Robert Torres ... There is no doubting Yuja Wang’s technique at the keyboard. The Chinese-born pianist is capable of unleashing torrents of octave runs, and her left-hand figures supply an almost orchestral sense of depth and gravity to her sound. She clearly shapes every phrase, and her notes resonate with a ping. ... Still, there were times Friday night when one wondered if Wang only saw some of this music as just showpieces for her mesmerizing technical skill. Her selections of Rachmaninoff Preludes and Études-tableaux, though played deftly, didn’t always flower with the vocal quality so integral to the composer’s style. Wang takes a full-bodied approach to Rachmaninoff, and she renders his textures in multi-dimensional shapes. In the Prelude in G minor, Op. 23, No. 5, her strong left hand figures tethered the march rhythms to the ground. The Prelude in B minor, Op. 32, No. 10 unfolded in Debussyian washes of color. In the Étude-tableau in E-flat minor, Op. 39, No. 5, Wang’s harmonies and bass lines crashed together in blistering clusters. But in each, Rachmaninoff sense of sweeping grandeur went largely unexplored. Three of Ligeti’s Etudes, which filled out the program, were similarly muscular but lacking in probing musicality. Wang’s running chromatic figures blurred into a fog in Etude No. 9, “Vertige,” and in Etude No. 1, “Désordre,” churning Bartókian rhythms propelled the music ever forward. In Etude No. 3, “Touches bloquées,” Wang’s performance needed more of the intimacy that this music requires. Though Wang played the work quickly-as marked-the Etude’s halo-like harmonics, caused by the pianist keeping some of the keys depressed with the left hand while punching out syncopated figures with the right, failed to shimmer. Ligeti incorporated difficult passages into these works not as vehicles for showboating but to create ethereal musical tapestries. And throughout, it seemed as if Wang was playing Ligeti’s notes, not Ligeti’s music. ... The program will be repeated 8 p.m. Thursday night at Carnegie Hall in New York. carnegiehall.org.
Google translation: Berlin Berliner Morgenpost Kultur Kirill Petrenko conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker 15.04.2018, 03:00 Uhr Felix Stephan Top-Events in Berlin "... And Petrenko's most recent Philharmonic program also fits into this It moves exclusively in the first half of the 20th century, and Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 is clearly the main attraction of the evening, especially as the Chinese Yuja Wang reaches into the keys, a pianist, half Circus horse, half machine, with a lurid record tempi in the outer sets and mercilessly accurate chord attacks.Whoever had always suspected that the piano is a drum kit, will feel confirmed by Yuja Wang." ...
Yuja, When we went into lockdown about a year ago, I decided to learn this piece (rather ambitious as a biology professor). I have listened to you play it everyday as my guide. Thank you for working so hard, making such beautiful music for all of us, and for inspiring me to keep playing. I hope you come to NY someday so I can hear you live. If you do, I hope you will play this prelude for your encore. When you finish, I'll be the loudest audience member jumping up and down, clapping and yelling BRAVO!
Bridgit, Yuja actually lives in New York city, in the theater district just few blocks from Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. So if you live in New York you are in luck because she performes at both these venues regularly. I hope you get to see her soon. :-)
You are welcome Bridgit. Do you know that Yuja is performing in Carnegie Hall this November? She is doing chamber music with the renowned violinist Kavakos. Here is the info: November 4, 2021 Carnegie Hall, New York, NY, United States Chamber music with Leonidas Kavakos, violin Program -- BACH: Violin Sonata No. 3 in E major, BWV 1016 SHOSTAKOVICH: Violin Sonata in G major, Op. 134 BACH: Violin Sonata No. 1 in B minor, BWV 1014 BUSONI: Violin Sonata No. 2 in E minor, Op. 36a You can find their chamber performances on RUclips to get a taste. Yuja's performing schedule is on her website www.yujawang.com. Cheers!
She is the only person that has played this correctly since Vladimir Horowitz did years ago and he and Rachmaninoff were friends. He took 4 minutes to complete it about the same speed as her. And There is a hidden melody in a small part that is difficult to bring out and she does it perfectly. It is only a few notes that are not really part of the main melodic theme but important nevertheless to a perfect performance. It takes an extreme amount of control to play this song and Horowitz was the only one that I have heard that has a classic recording of this that is probably the best and she comes very close and maybe even better.
I must have watched this 100 times already....help me ! A year on and I must have watched this 200 times at least, I just can't help myself! Update Dec 2020 - Make that 400 times now!
Wow was not expecting it to be that good! Easily one of the best performances of this, sound quality too is excellent, really captured the power of this piece.
Lol, i know she is good, I just forget how good she is sometimes, I thought the performance would be good as it is, just not pretty much the best performance I've ever heard, which it is, in my opinion.
It's not just the tempo that's so great about this interpretation, it's also her dynamics and articulation. It's a little too much pedal for my preference in the beginning, but overall her playing is so clear and vibrant, and is further complemented by her relatively slower tempo. Last but not least, the dynamics give the piece its liveliness, and adds lots of variation. I love her crescendos in particular. Bravo.
Nombreux sont ceux qui parlent de votre talent, nombreux sont ceux aussi qui parlent de votre technique. Moi je ne parle pas, j'écoute, et j'entends toute l'émotion que vous mettez dans votre musique. Merci beaucoup.
Cette pianiste est l'une de mes préférées, quand elle joue on a l'impression qu'elle communique avec le piano comme si ils s'assemblaient et ne formait qu'une seule personne, je trouve cela absolument magnifique à voir et à écouter.
This is true musicianship of the highest order.. Her technique and inner ear are so flawlessly perfect and thought through that they allow her the freedom to take what most pianists pound into a flashy, showboat piece and fashion it into a short story of musical wonder and intelligence. How deeply fortunate we are to have Yuja Wang in our world.
Such a relief to hear that she goes for full octaves in the right hand in the major episode 0:40. I have a small hand and was struggling to make this sound good as Rachmaninoff wrote it (octave-single note-octave-single note), until I decided to play the entire right hand with an added octave. Now I see that I'm not the only one who got thay idea! 😀
This was incredible! It sounded just like his original ❤The way she plays, putting her whole heart and sole into the music is breathtaking. My first time hearing of this artist and now I’m in love
I'm becoming a real Yuja Wang fan. I have loved this piece for many years, but I have never heard it played so clearly. I love Horowitz, but I think I would rather listen to this performance...
I was so ambitious, on my 2nd year 1st semester of studying piano, this was my recital piece... in the middle of the piece i had mental blocked, i faced the audience for about 10 seconds, looked at my family, and played it again from the start with so much anger in me, that everyone in the audience became so quite while i hammer and shook the grand piano... i was able to finish the piece, and with no slight of smile on my face, I stood up, bowed and walked out. Went to one of the piano rooms cried, and thought jumping from the 2nd floor, good thing my piano professor, hurriedly went to me, comforted me and said that I did just fine, and she brought me back inside the music hall. It happened last 2000 in Silliman University School of Music and Fine Arts in Dumaguete City, Philippines. I can think of it now and just totally laugh at it. I just wish cameras or phone cameras were cheap back in that olden days, could have captured one of the most memorable times of my life. :)
Love this tempo - it seems to me that many pianists today (and many conductors alike - Simon Rattle please note) just want to gallop through the music as fast as possible. This is beautifully played at a pace at which you can savour the sonority and the admire the subtly of the composition. Thank you Yuja for a wonderful interpretation of this piece.
love this tempo ? look at my remarks over there, you can savour the sonority ? lisent to Valentina version many of nots and accords she plays can't be eard in Yuja version in some fog...play it slower if you like it will finish in a "berceuse"
Yuja, you remember me the young Martha Argerich. The same virtuosism, the passion, a brilliant sound, even the same facials expressions. Simply beautiful, thank you very much.
@@michaelschefold3299 I like that tempo, which is about the same as Ashkenazy's. Gilels played it even faster, but it was also fantastic. Rachmaninoff played it even slower than Yuja Wang! Her tempo also works, but the middle section is awful; no mystery or poise.
Ah, Rachmaninoff & Yuja?! The Classical Review Wang’s powerful virtuosity stronger on flash than depth in Boston recital May 13, 2018 By Aaron Keebaugh Yuja Wang performed Friday night at Jordan Hall for the Celebrity Series. Photo: Robert Torres ... There is no doubting Yuja Wang’s technique at the keyboard. The Chinese-born pianist is capable of unleashing torrents of octave runs, and her left-hand figures supply an almost orchestral sense of depth and gravity to her sound. She clearly shapes every phrase, and her notes resonate with a ping. ... Still, there were times Friday night when one wondered if Wang only saw some of this music as just showpieces for her mesmerizing technical skill. Her selections of Rachmaninoff Preludes and Études-tableaux, though played deftly, didn’t always flower with the vocal quality so integral to the composer’s style. Wang takes a full-bodied approach to Rachmaninoff, and she renders his textures in multi-dimensional shapes. In the Prelude in G minor, Op. 23, No. 5, her strong left hand figures tethered the march rhythms to the ground. The Prelude in B minor, Op. 32, No. 10 unfolded in Debussyian washes of color. In the Étude-tableau in E-flat minor, Op. 39, No. 5, Wang’s harmonies and bass lines crashed together in blistering clusters. But in each, Rachmaninoff sense of sweeping grandeur went largely unexplored. Three of Ligeti’s Etudes, which filled out the program, were similarly muscular but lacking in probing musicality. Wang’s running chromatic figures blurred into a fog in Etude No. 9, “Vertige,” and in Etude No. 1, “Désordre,” churning Bartókian rhythms propelled the music ever forward. In Etude No. 3, “Touches bloquées,” Wang’s performance needed more of the intimacy that this music requires. Though Wang played the work quickly-as marked-the Etude’s halo-like harmonics, caused by the pianist keeping some of the keys depressed with the left hand while punching out syncopated figures with the right, failed to shimmer. Ligeti incorporated difficult passages into these works not as vehicles for showboating but to create ethereal musical tapestries. And throughout, it seemed as if Wang was playing Ligeti’s notes, not Ligeti’s music. ... The program will be repeated 8 p.m. Thursday night at Carnegie Hall in New York. carnegiehall.org.
On the evidence of this Yuja Wang is maturing into a consummate artist. Her choice of tempo is spot on for the martial rhythm of this celebrated prelude, I look forward to experiencing the complete recital.
This video is very interesting to me as it highlights Yuja's notoriously superb technique. She maintains a posture and economy of body movement, even through some fairly intense dynamic contrasts. Her arms and hands are doing nearly all the work and her torso and head help out only when the fortissimo reaches its most intense. Yet we do see expressiveness and intensity, and of course those hands and fingers blurring as they move faster than our eyes can follow.
There is something about this woman .... the level of hutzpa that she plays with is unreal. The courage to WAIT, the syncopation ... she plays it with a level of umpf that gives us all what we need. (I need not even touch on the technique because there was hardly a wrong note, if any, played.) But I think what most enthralls even us pianists is the power she pulls from the piano being so slight. I know pianist larger than her who can't even muster half of this sound. She is astounding both musically and technically. Bravo.
I have played this piece since I was a teen. I love Yuja’s approach. Just because she is capable of playing it faster, she does not. Sanjosemike (no longer in CA)
Magical…I played this in college decades ago and have been enamored with it ever since. But I hadn’t listened to it for years. Then, Yuja’s “Flight of the bumble-bee” showed up on a list of videos I was watching, I listened, was floored and had to see if she had performed Rachmaninoff’s prelude in G minor. I am so glad I searched for this, because her performance takes my breath away over and over. I listened to several others, including the composer himself, then came back and listened to Yuja again and her performance continues to take my breath away. From the moment she first touches those keys to the final, her richness of tone and phrasing transport. Her transition from the march to when she takes flight and soars through the lyrical section is like a dream sequence that continues to pull me in till I’m brought to tears by the soft landing back into the final, heroic, majestic march. Thank you, Yuja, for your incredible gift of interpretation, sharing the importance of every single note and throwing nothing away. You’re truly a gift.
I love this interpretation. Very original and insightful. The technical execution was flawless and equally original. My noteworthy impressions: her discretion in the use of rubato is very calculated and intelligent and her unique focus on the harmonic subtleties and counter melody (particularly in 3rd section). Masterful.
I dont get tired of watching her fingers and listening to her playing. She transmit the boldness and every feeling this piece was meant to have. This lady wakes me up but fills my heart with tenderness at the mellow transition of 1:21 her fingers are tender and delicate, and the piano becomes a symphony of soft and mellow strings. No one plays better than her. I await her performance in the Disney Center in Los Angeles.
She got creative and daring when she added a little touch to the score at 1:51 and at 2:00; love it and will play it that way; I think even Sergei would give her a thumbs up for that.
We are very fortunate to have, in our lifetime, one so musically gifted, technically, and emotionally connected to the music, in away, few humans are able to experience. Thank- you Yuja for sharing your gift....
Reminds me of the version on RUclips recorded by Rachmaninoff himself.. the quickness of the chords, sparse use of pedal, and the separation and clarity of the different melodies in the middle section. Love it!
Hello Yuja, thank you very much for your brilliantly played piano music. Your virtuosity and sovereignty leave me speechless. As a musician and woman, you are wonderful to hear and look at. Many Thanks!
Among the finest performances if not the best I remember. Powerful, balanced, finely nuanced, all poltphonic elements clearly highlited, great architecture. Superb
absolutely fabulous!! I am so happy that in these difficult COVID times, when we can not (or very limited) go to live performances, this recording is available!!!
It is hard not be mesmerized by the physical manner in which Ms Wang plays. She shows a physical action in her arms, hands, and fingers to the rhythmic play of the music which I don't see in other outstanding pianists.
This is actually the best recording I’ve ever heard of this. It’s widely played - badly. Even most pros have trouble getting on top of it. She nails it. Great March tempo, not a drag race. Clean, expressive, gorgeous languid middle section, meaty sound in the bass. Brava!
Her rhythm is almost the same as that of Rachmaninoff's recording. She expressed Rachmaninoff's emotions almost perfectly. In addition, she cleverly used the middle pedal. This is a very special treatment.
I've heard this prelude many times, but don't think I've ever seen anyone play it before. This pianist certainly has the chops! I see comments that it's slower (than whose playing?) but watch her hands, constantly in motion. And this prelude should not be rushed through anyway. I like to hear all those notes!
What an amazing pianist she is. There are so many good pianists these days, young and established but Yuja is unsurpassed. A fantastic performance, absolutely stunning - I can't wait to see her live in the not too distant future. Hopefully in London.
Durch ihr perfektes, intelligentes und zudem tief berührendes Spiel werden neue Sichtweisen und Strukturen erkennbar. Im Mittelteil sind vernetzte Motive hörbar und musikalische Emotionen geweckt. Frau Yuja Wang ist ein wahres Gesamtkunstwerk. 👏...
Dearest Wang Yuja, Thank you for your life in all that it ever has been, ever is, and ever will be! May your Divine love, wisdom, and understanding in your actions of the music expressed through you, touch the hearts and minds of all humanity and beyond. May the Divinity of the music as Divinely expressed through you, reach the Divinity of all humanity, in this world and beyond. May your Divine expressions through your love and understanding of the music, reach through to all the Divine love and wisdom of all humanity, and beyond. May we fortunate enough to have heard the music expressed through you, experience in our hearts and minds, a miraculous and revolutionary reverence towards a peaceful loving healing of all our hearts and minds, upon hearing you play, may it inspire in us all a greater realisation towards all our aspirations for what is possible within a greater understanding and fathoming of all our hearts and minds, upon us hearing the music played through you, May it spark a revolution in our aspirations for what is possible for the whole world over, and over, and over, May all our hearts and minds be healed, the whole world over, and over, and over, as well as through, and through, and through, May we all be blessedly healed. May the realisation for a revolution in our aspirations for what is possible through you, then extend further to all of nature in this world and, beyond, and beyond, and, beyond. May your Divine fathoming and actions of the music forever free you from all attachment and aversion and forever and instantaneously set you free from all and any torment and suffering, May this be true for you in music, as well as true for you in life, may you forever be free from all torment and suffering. Then through your realisation of freedom, may we all without exception, through your freedom, may we all without exception, may we all without exception be set free too…May this be in all, May it be for all, May it be in all, for all, in all, in all the Ten directions, and may it be in all the Four times, and beyond, and beyond, and beyond... Wang Yuja, May you live a long, and prosperous, happy fruitful life, and may the world be a better place for having you been born, lived, learned, played and shared your life within it! With Love from Love to Love, Yours Sincerely, Faithfully and Forevermore…. Will you someday please bless us in person here too on our shores in Australia, with a visit to Sydney or Melbourne with one or more of your blessed performance’s? --
I love when people argue about tempo. And phrasing. And dynamics. That’s when you know a piece of music is meaningful, relevant. I mean damn, this music is so amazing, that the only real disagreements we can have are on how fast it is or how loud it may be? Thank you Rach, Chopin,Schubert....!!!! What a gift! (In honest attempt to make some readers mad, the plural of tempo was purposely avoided in opening sentence)
As always, an unbeatable performance that is a joy to listen to. You have the 'Top Notch' as always. Looking forward to more beautiful music from you, Yuja. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful talent and personal interpretation in everything you play.
The New York Times Review. Yuja Wang Plays Dazed Chaos, Then 7 Encores By Zachary Woolfe May 18, 2018 The usual praise for a musician who plays a recital in a big hall is that he or she makes that big hall feel small. But on Thursday, the pianist Yuja Wang made Carnegie Hall seem even vaster than normal: big, empty, lonely. Through her concert’s uncompromisingly grim first half and its wary, stunned second, Ms. Wang charted wholly dark, private emotions. She was in no way hostile toward an adoring (if slightly disoriented) audience, but neither did she seem at all interested in seducing it. After the playbills had been printed, Ms. Wang - who will have a Perspectives series at Carnegie next season - revised her program. She subtracted two of the four Rachmaninoff preludes she’d planned to give before intermission and added an extra three of his later, even less scrutable Études-Tableaux. Ms. Wang played none of these pieces in a way that made them seem grounded or orderly; she even seemed to want to run the seven together in an unbroken, heady minor-key span, a choice that most - but not enough - of the audience respected by not clapping in between. Even divided by light applause, these pieces blurred into and stretched toward one another. Doing nothing that felt exaggerated or overwrought, Ms. Wang emphasized unsettled harmonies and de-emphasized melodic integrity. The Étude-Tableau, in E-flat Minor (Op. 33, No. 6) wasn’t the juxtaposition of one hand’s abstraction and the other’s clear etching. No, she was telling two surreal tales at once. The martial opening of the Prelude in G Minor (Op. 23, No. 5) swiftly unraveled into something woozy and bewildering. The washes of sound in the Étude-Tableau in C Minor (Op. 39, No. 1) were set alongside insectlike fingerwork - neurotic, insistent, claustrophobic. ... Her bending of the line in the Étude-Tableau in B Minor (Op. 39, No. 4) felt like the turning of a widening gyre, infusing the evocation of aristocratic nostalgia with anxiety. (Rachmaninoff composed most of the works Ms. Wang played as World War I loomed and unfolded, and the 19th century finally ended.) The stretched-out, washed-out quality of melancholy in her account of the Étude-Tableau in C Minor (Op. 33, No. 3), made that sorrow seem more like resignation: The loneliness she depicted felt familiar to her, even comfortable. The prevailing mood - dreamlike sadness; a feeling of being lost; rushing through darkness - continued in what followed. The relentless trills and tremolos of Scriabin’s Sonata No. 10 - which is sometimes played lusciously but was here diffuse and gauzy - glittered angrily. Three Ligeti etudes from the 1980s and ’90s proved that Rachmaninoff and Scriabin, as she presented them, were presentiments of the modernism of the distant future. There was the sense that more time than just 20 minutes - decades, perhaps - had elapsed during intermission, after which Ms. Wang played Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 8, composed during World War II. Here, playing with guarded poise, Ms. Wang seemed to inhabit a kind of aftermath of the dazed chaos she had depicted in the early-20th-century works on the first half. The contours were sharper now, the colors brighter and bolder. The effect was still unnerving. I considered whether Ms. Wang’s flamboyant clothes - in the first half, a floor-length purple gown with only a slash of sparkle covering her breasts; in the second, a tiny iridescent turquoise dress with vertiginous heels - were the right costume here. They did give the impression that she had arrived alone, a disconcerting combination of powerful and vulnerable, at a not particularly appealing party. In that sense they were a fitting complement to her ominous vision of this music. Likewise, it seemed at first that a few of her seven - yes, seven - encores jarred with the forlorn mood she’d built up. Vladimir Horowitz’s “Carmen” fantasia, an Art Tatum stride version of “Tea for Two,” a demented arrangement of Mozart’s “Rondo alla Turca” - all were blazingly performed but had a touch of cheerful kitsch about them. But perhaps they, too, were of a piece with the intoxication that permeated the recital. ... And by the end, as she followed the “Mélodie” from Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice” with Schubert’s “Gretchen am Spinnrade,” Ms. Wang finally seemed to have found a measure of real, hard-earned peace.
Very heavy key-hitting, cristalized and bright sound,clean and beautiful sound, multi-levelled and varied interpretation, very sophiscated and fine. Talent ! World Top Class !
I really like this, because it is not overly percussive. Most of the time, many pianists really over exaggerated the rhythm. It made very tiring to listen. This one is really musical.
Have you had a chance to listen to Yuja's fantastic Berlin Recital album? She has also released some Encores, available for streaming only.
Thank you
Okay. How much are you being paid?
Would DG make an invitation for one of his subscribers to visit Germany and a live concert of the BERLINER PHILHARMONIKER?
Perfect tempo. Most play this too fast😩. You play this PERFECTLY‼️😍. Thank you for sharing your wonderful talent with us. Thumbs UP!
@@OmgLoLw2gLuvUidkROFL Can't imagine any faster than this!
Thank you, everybody!
@@clausesanta5042 maybe the focus is not her, but definitely your own problem with your sexuality
@@wedemeyerr So you say.
Ah, no - thank you. Thank you very much.
❤️@Yuja. Wellcome to Stockholm!
@@clausesanta5042 Take notice of people like wedemeyer - they are really just trying to divert the attention away from their own sexual hang ups and penis envy. I'm with you Santa - what can I have for Christmas?
I really like how much attention she gives to the countermelody in the middle voices at the repeat of the middle part.
And that is what makes her special, according to G. Graffman, her teacher at Curtis.
Tehnically it is written like this, but I guess she does it better than most
That’s how the score is written.
@@AL-pu7ux I know. But you still have to be able to make it sing. It is not easy with the fingering.
Exactly my thought. Her rendition of those other voices is the clearest I've listened to so far.
I like this because it's slower, so I can finally learn to play it in 100 years instead of 200
Samovar maker lmao
ruclips.net/video/SlcQWUn5DeI/видео.html its away better version (in my opinion 😉)
I like how Rachmaninoff himself played, it's a tad faster than this though
Lmaooo
@@katalantra are you serious?
She plays this at an excellent tempo. I can believe how well she brings out that hidden melody.
Mesmerizing. She's more than capable to play this faster. But I actually like this tempo. It shows that Yuja is not just about speed and technique.
well it's the tempo of the piece.... so why would she play it faster ?
I agree unlike Lang Lang
I noticed the exact same thing. Such a controlled and measured tempo
The tempo is perfect.
Yes, her tempo is close to Rachmaninoff himself, for example Kissin plays it faster and with less musicality. It's the best interpretation since Rachmaninow.
Yuja Wang is - IMHO - among the top 5 pianist in the world today! Her skill and interpation of the classics is just incredible.
Her voicing in the middle passages at 1:50 are heavenly. 😍...
Ashkenazy
It reminded me immediately of Glenn Gould. Such a beautiful connection between two great artists :)
I understand that Lang lang’s proficiency and dynamics are beyond compare.
But i cant even describe how amazing Yuja Wang is. Her consistency and balance and the way she emphasizes this piece and any pieces without altering the melodies is mind-blowing to me. Every note is clear and carries a characteristic with it.
She plays gracefully with her beauty and soul.
Both had the same instructor...no?
Lol, Yuja is better than Lang Lang easily imo
Yuja is way way way better than Lang Lang
Lang Lang is way to dramatic and flamboyant, which appeals to the crowd
But if you only listen to the pieces they played, Yuja's way better.
Perfect tempo. Yuja is the best interpreter I ever heard of this dramatically piece. It is the Russian soul mirrored. She is playing with all her soul and body all together.
Most just play this piece too fast, so it does not sound like a march anymore. Yuja meets exactly my idea of this piece.
startraveller I agree. I like Yuja's tempo, but even Rachmaninoff himself played it faster. ruclips.net/video/M8RyWFA7PSY/видео.html
I think Richter also played it at this tempo, which to me is perfect
@@tomgiles1484 thank you for this record. He have played it faster, but not too fast at all. Like it too :)
Ah, Rachmaninoff & Yuja?! The Classical Review
Wang’s powerful virtuosity stronger on flash than depth in Boston recital
May 13, 2018
By Aaron Keebaugh
Yuja Wang performed Friday night at Jordan Hall for the Celebrity Series. Photo: Robert Torres
...
There is no doubting Yuja Wang’s technique at the keyboard. The Chinese-born pianist is capable of unleashing torrents of octave runs, and her left-hand figures supply an almost orchestral sense of depth and gravity to her sound. She clearly shapes every phrase, and her notes resonate with a ping.
...
Still, there were times Friday night when one wondered if Wang only saw some of this music as just showpieces for her mesmerizing technical skill. Her selections of Rachmaninoff Preludes and Études-tableaux, though played deftly, didn’t always flower with the vocal quality so integral to the composer’s style.
Wang takes a full-bodied approach to Rachmaninoff, and she renders his textures in multi-dimensional shapes. In the Prelude in G minor, Op. 23, No. 5, her strong left hand figures tethered the march rhythms to the ground. The Prelude in B minor, Op. 32, No. 10 unfolded in Debussyian washes of color. In the Étude-tableau in E-flat minor, Op. 39, No. 5, Wang’s harmonies and bass lines crashed together in blistering clusters. But in each, Rachmaninoff sense of sweeping grandeur went largely unexplored.
Three of Ligeti’s Etudes, which filled out the program, were similarly muscular but lacking in probing musicality. Wang’s running chromatic figures blurred into a fog in Etude No. 9, “Vertige,” and in Etude No. 1, “Désordre,” churning Bartókian rhythms propelled the music ever forward. In Etude No. 3, “Touches bloquées,” Wang’s performance needed more of the intimacy that this music requires. Though Wang played the work quickly-as marked-the Etude’s halo-like harmonics, caused by the pianist keeping some of the keys depressed with the left hand while punching out syncopated figures with the right, failed to shimmer. Ligeti incorporated difficult passages into these works not as vehicles for showboating but to create ethereal musical tapestries. And throughout, it seemed as if Wang was playing Ligeti’s notes, not Ligeti’s music.
...
The program will be repeated 8 p.m. Thursday night at Carnegie Hall in New York. carnegiehall.org.
Google translation: Berlin Berliner Morgenpost Kultur Kirill Petrenko conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker 15.04.2018, 03:00 Uhr Felix Stephan Top-Events in Berlin "... And Petrenko's most recent Philharmonic program also fits into this It moves exclusively in the first half of the 20th century, and Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 is clearly the main attraction of the evening, especially as the Chinese Yuja Wang reaches into the keys, a pianist, half Circus horse, half machine, with a lurid record tempi in the outer sets and mercilessly accurate chord attacks.Whoever had always suspected that the piano is a drum kit, will feel confirmed by Yuja Wang." ...
This piece makes my blood fizz like nothing else, especially when it is played perfectly, as it is here.
Yuja, When we went into lockdown about a year ago, I decided to learn this piece (rather ambitious as a biology professor). I have listened to you play it everyday as my guide. Thank you for working so hard, making such beautiful music for all of us, and for inspiring me to keep playing. I hope you come to NY someday so I can hear you live. If you do, I hope you will play this prelude for your encore. When you finish, I'll be the loudest audience member jumping up and down, clapping and yelling BRAVO!
Bridgit, Yuja actually lives in New York city, in the theater district just few blocks from Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. So if you live in New York you are in luck because she performes at both these venues regularly. I hope you get to see her soon. :-)
@@s.c.1494 Thank you for letting me know!
You are welcome Bridgit. Do you know that Yuja is performing in Carnegie Hall this November? She is doing chamber music with the renowned violinist Kavakos. Here is the info:
November 4, 2021
Carnegie Hall, New York, NY, United States
Chamber music with Leonidas Kavakos, violin
Program --
BACH: Violin Sonata No. 3 in E major, BWV 1016
SHOSTAKOVICH: Violin Sonata in G major, Op. 134
BACH: Violin Sonata No. 1 in B minor, BWV 1014
BUSONI: Violin Sonata No. 2 in E minor, Op. 36a
You can find their chamber performances on RUclips to get a taste. Yuja's performing schedule is on her website www.yujawang.com. Cheers!
@@s.c.1494 Thank you so much for sharing! This is awesome!
@@bridgitgoldman8043 You are welcome!
She is the only person that has played this correctly since Vladimir Horowitz did years ago and he and Rachmaninoff were friends. He took 4 minutes to complete it about the same speed as her. And There is a hidden melody in a small part that is difficult to bring out and she does it perfectly. It is only a few notes that are not really part of the main melodic theme but important nevertheless to a perfect performance. It takes an extreme amount of control to play this song and Horowitz was the only one that I have heard that has a classic recording of this that is probably the best and she comes very close and maybe even better.
Gilels also plays these inner melodies beautifully. His overall tempo is slightly faster but it's as clear.
Gilels, Richter, Sokolov hasn't?
I invite you to listen to Lugansky version, it is a little faster but he brings out the real Russian soul in MHO
Listen to Lugansky
And Richter?
I must have watched this 100 times already....help me !
A year on and I must have watched this 200 times at least, I just can't help myself!
Update Dec 2020 - Make that 400 times now!
Does anybody know other piano music like this? With this style?
@@lucyluck9642 OMG I'm so relieved, I thought it was just me!
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I have listened at least 30 times
She's so dynamic and expressive, this is fascinating to watch
Wow was not expecting it to be that good! Easily one of the best performances of this, sound quality too is excellent, really captured the power of this piece.
Why the low expectation?
Grosejay maybe he thinks too highly of himself.
Lol, i know she is good, I just forget how good she is sometimes, I thought the performance would be good as it is, just not pretty much the best performance I've ever heard, which it is, in my opinion.
Sound quality? It's recorded in studio. How could it go wrong?
With Yuja Wang, the expectation can’t be higher-you always expect her to play it to your idea of perfection, and she exceeds it infinitely.
It's not just the tempo that's so great about this interpretation, it's also her dynamics and articulation. It's a little too much pedal for my preference in the beginning, but overall her playing is so clear and vibrant, and is further complemented by her relatively slower tempo. Last but not least, the dynamics give the piece its liveliness, and adds lots of variation. I love her crescendos in particular. Bravo.
Nombreux sont ceux qui parlent de votre talent, nombreux sont ceux aussi qui parlent de votre technique. Moi je ne parle pas, j'écoute, et j'entends toute l'émotion que vous mettez dans votre musique. Merci beaucoup.
잘났다
Cette pianiste est l'une de mes préférées, quand elle joue on a l'impression qu'elle communique avec le piano comme si ils s'assemblaient et ne formait qu'une seule personne, je trouve cela absolument magnifique à voir et à écouter.
This is true musicianship of the highest order.. Her technique and inner ear are so flawlessly perfect and thought through that they allow her the freedom to take what most pianists pound into a flashy, showboat piece and fashion it into a short story of musical wonder and intelligence. How deeply fortunate we are to have Yuja Wang in our world.
Such a relief to hear that she goes for full octaves in the right hand in the major episode 0:40. I have a small hand and was struggling to make this sound good as Rachmaninoff wrote it (octave-single note-octave-single note), until I decided to play the entire right hand with an added octave. Now I see that I'm not the only one who got thay idea! 😀
Love this interpretation, almost like she’s teasing the audience constantly
This was incredible! It sounded just like his original ❤The way she plays, putting her whole heart and sole into the music is breathtaking. My first time hearing of this artist and now I’m in love
She sings with her soul and you can tell the passion she puts in her playing and that makes it all sound so much more magical ❤️
She is not playing the piano, she is the fusion of human and piano! The best pianist!!!
Yunchan is better
I'm becoming a real Yuja Wang fan. I have loved this piece for many years, but I have never heard it played so clearly. I love Horowitz, but I think I would rather listen to this performance...
well horowitz was in his old age when he was recorded so it is not a good reperesentation of his skill
Sonority in superb clarity is Yuja's trademark with which I fall in love again and again every time I hear her play.
Wow ! Finally someone who KNOWS how to play Rachmaninov in a way that brings tears of emotion ! Love from Switzerland !
Princess Miyako Watanabe. From the band: LOVEBITES. My favorite.
Yes There is no doubt that her performance is really worth noting.
Can't get enough of this piece.....it could be a metal song
Here thanks to Shred
Yula Wang does not only play miraculously, Yula Wang herself is a miracle
The clarity pedaling is extraordinary.
I was so ambitious, on my 2nd year 1st semester of studying piano, this was my recital piece... in the middle of the piece i had mental blocked, i faced the audience for about 10 seconds, looked at my family, and played it again from the start with so much anger in me, that everyone in the audience became so quite while i hammer and shook the grand piano... i was able to finish the piece, and with no slight of smile on my face, I stood up, bowed and walked out. Went to one of the piano rooms cried, and thought jumping from the 2nd floor, good thing my piano professor, hurriedly went to me, comforted me and said that I did just fine, and she brought me back inside the music hall. It happened last 2000 in Silliman University School of Music and Fine Arts in Dumaguete City, Philippines. I can think of it now and just totally laugh at it. I just wish cameras or phone cameras were cheap back in that olden days, could have captured one of the most memorable times of my life. :)
Умница! Талантище!! Послушайте ещё, как она играет Скрябина! Лучше всех остальных молодых музыкантов!
This brings tears to my eyes… there’s so much emotion behind every key note… thank you for this truly exceptional rendition.. 😊
Perfect. I can see the soldiers marching toward us, passing us, and marching into the distance. Perfect.
Yuja has developed into an absolute world class pianist with few rivals outstanding lady in all ways
Love this tempo - it seems to me that many pianists today (and many conductors alike - Simon Rattle please note) just want to gallop through the music as fast as possible. This is beautifully played at a pace at which you can savour the sonority and the admire the subtly of the composition. Thank you Yuja for a wonderful interpretation of this piece.
yesss savour the sonority I love sonorous piano pieces
ruclips.net/video/SlcQWUn5DeI/видео.html its a way better version (in my opinion)
@@katalantra Nah
love this tempo ? look at my remarks over there, you can savour the sonority ? lisent to Valentina version many of nots and accords she plays can't be eard in Yuja version in some fog...play it slower if you like it will finish in a "berceuse"
michel le pivert: s’il vous plaît, en englais ou français pas aardvarquois
Yuja, you remember me the young Martha Argerich. The same virtuosism, the passion, a brilliant sound, even the same facials expressions.
Simply beautiful, thank you very much.
To me, the best recording and playing of this piece.
What an interpretation! What a pianist! Better isn't possible.....I was so lucky to hear and see this live in Zürich, an unforgettable evening!
Michael Schefold Better is absolutely possible: Kissin, Gilels, and, absolute tops, Ashkenazy.
@@EmptyVee00000 not at all....her interpretation is way better tha Kissin...he's too fast
@@michaelschefold3299 I like that tempo, which is about the same as Ashkenazy's. Gilels played it even faster, but it was also fantastic. Rachmaninoff played it even slower than Yuja Wang! Her tempo also works, but the middle section is awful; no mystery or poise.
Ah, Rachmaninoff & Yuja?! The Classical Review
Wang’s powerful virtuosity stronger on flash than depth in Boston recital
May 13, 2018
By Aaron Keebaugh
Yuja Wang performed Friday night at Jordan Hall for the Celebrity Series. Photo: Robert Torres
...
There is no doubting Yuja Wang’s technique at the keyboard. The Chinese-born pianist is capable of unleashing torrents of octave runs, and her left-hand figures supply an almost orchestral sense of depth and gravity to her sound. She clearly shapes every phrase, and her notes resonate with a ping.
...
Still, there were times Friday night when one wondered if Wang only saw some of this music as just showpieces for her mesmerizing technical skill. Her selections of Rachmaninoff Preludes and Études-tableaux, though played deftly, didn’t always flower with the vocal quality so integral to the composer’s style.
Wang takes a full-bodied approach to Rachmaninoff, and she renders his textures in multi-dimensional shapes. In the Prelude in G minor, Op. 23, No. 5, her strong left hand figures tethered the march rhythms to the ground. The Prelude in B minor, Op. 32, No. 10 unfolded in Debussyian washes of color. In the Étude-tableau in E-flat minor, Op. 39, No. 5, Wang’s harmonies and bass lines crashed together in blistering clusters. But in each, Rachmaninoff sense of sweeping grandeur went largely unexplored.
Three of Ligeti’s Etudes, which filled out the program, were similarly muscular but lacking in probing musicality. Wang’s running chromatic figures blurred into a fog in Etude No. 9, “Vertige,” and in Etude No. 1, “Désordre,” churning Bartókian rhythms propelled the music ever forward. In Etude No. 3, “Touches bloquées,” Wang’s performance needed more of the intimacy that this music requires. Though Wang played the work quickly-as marked-the Etude’s halo-like harmonics, caused by the pianist keeping some of the keys depressed with the left hand while punching out syncopated figures with the right, failed to shimmer. Ligeti incorporated difficult passages into these works not as vehicles for showboating but to create ethereal musical tapestries. And throughout, it seemed as if Wang was playing Ligeti’s notes, not Ligeti’s music.
...
The program will be repeated 8 p.m. Thursday night at Carnegie Hall in New York. carnegiehall.org.
Mario DiSarli Your point?
This is perfection. An incredible piece of music played by a Goddess. Thank you Rachmaninov and Yuya Wang
Best recording I've head so far of this prelude. I can't believe the crazy voicing that she does in the melodic section!!
On the evidence of this Yuja Wang is maturing into a consummate artist. Her choice of tempo is spot on for the martial rhythm of this celebrated prelude, I look forward to experiencing the complete recital.
This video is very interesting to me as it highlights Yuja's notoriously superb technique. She maintains a posture and economy of body movement, even through some fairly intense dynamic contrasts. Her arms and hands are doing nearly all the work and her torso and head help out only when the fortissimo reaches its most intense. Yet we do see expressiveness and intensity, and of course those hands and fingers blurring as they move faster than our eyes can follow.
@@georgescancan7503 You are vulgar jerk.
@@TomCloyd Yes , Mr. Cancan comes across as a truly negative and offensive creature ....Sad!
.....Joel Laykin , HK.
There is something about this woman .... the level of hutzpa that she plays with is unreal. The courage to WAIT, the syncopation ... she plays it with a level of umpf that gives us all what we need. (I need not even touch on the technique because there was hardly a wrong note, if any, played.) But I think what most enthralls even us pianists is the power she pulls from the piano being so slight. I know pianist larger than her who can't even muster half of this sound. She is astounding both musically and technically. Bravo.
I have played this piece since I was a teen. I love Yuja’s approach. Just because she is capable of playing it faster, she does not.
Sanjosemike (no longer in CA)
Magical…I played this in college decades ago and have been enamored with it ever since. But I hadn’t listened to it for years. Then, Yuja’s “Flight of the bumble-bee” showed up on a list of videos I was watching, I listened, was floored and had to see if she had performed Rachmaninoff’s prelude in G minor. I am so glad I searched for this, because her performance takes my breath away over and over. I listened to several others, including the composer himself, then came back and listened to Yuja again and her performance continues to take my breath away. From the moment she first touches those keys to the final, her richness of tone and phrasing transport. Her transition from the march to when she takes flight and soars through the lyrical section is like a dream sequence that continues to pull me in till I’m brought to tears by the soft landing back into the final, heroic, majestic march. Thank you, Yuja, for your incredible gift of interpretation, sharing the importance of every single note and throwing nothing away. You’re truly a gift.
I love this interpretation. Very original and insightful. The technical execution was flawless and equally original. My noteworthy impressions: her discretion in the use of rubato is very calculated and intelligent and her unique focus on the harmonic subtleties and counter melody (particularly in 3rd section). Masterful.
Sound quality is superb,; i can even hear the crickets on the piano.
That yellow dress is ravishing in her. What a gift
I dont get tired of watching her fingers and listening to her playing. She transmit the boldness and every feeling this piece was meant to have. This lady wakes me up but fills my heart with tenderness at the mellow transition of 1:21 her fingers are tender and delicate, and the piano becomes a symphony of soft and mellow strings.
No one plays better than her. I await her performance in the Disney Center in Los Angeles.
Wow. She plays it slower , but you can hear, feel and see how she puts her emotions into the song, which doesn’t come with every pianist, impressive.
You are a true gift to us, wishing you happiness in life
She got creative and daring when she added a little touch to the score at 1:51 and at 2:00; love it and will play it that way; I think even Sergei would give her a thumbs up for that.
It was written in the score. She did not add anything. She played exactly what was written.
Really love it that she used the left pedal in the middle part
We are very fortunate to have, in our lifetime, one so musically gifted, technically, and emotionally connected to the music, in away, few humans are able to experience. Thank- you Yuja for sharing your gift....
best rendition I've ever heard of this piece. The phrasing in the Un poco meno mosso is phenomenal
Gilels plays better
Reminds me of the version on RUclips recorded by Rachmaninoff himself.. the quickness of the chords, sparse use of pedal, and the separation and clarity of the different melodies in the middle section. Love it!
Noone else is as close to Rachmaninoff himself as she is!
Excellent! Bravo!
Rach was great!
I love his music!
Thanks Yuja!
You are beautiful!
This, in my opinion, is the pinnacle interpretation of this piece. Absolutely phenomenal.
Hello Yuja, thank you very much for your brilliantly played piano music. Your virtuosity and sovereignty leave me speechless. As a musician and woman, you are wonderful to hear and look at. Many Thanks!
Excellent interpretation, the bass is exhilarating, wonderful articulation of the melody line
Among the finest performances if not the best I remember. Powerful, balanced, finely nuanced, all poltphonic elements clearly highlited, great architecture. Superb
absolutely fabulous!!
I am so happy that in these difficult COVID times, when we can not (or very limited) go to live performances, this recording is available!!!
It is hard not be mesmerized by the physical manner in which Ms Wang plays. She shows a physical action in her arms, hands, and fingers to the rhythmic play of the music which I don't see in other outstanding pianists.
Yuja, you play this piece in a so original way... really a great execution!
Yuja is one of the best interpreters of Rachmaninov in my honest opinion
I love her so muuuuuch !!! I can't stop listening to her music! She is brilliant
This is actually the best recording I’ve ever heard of this. It’s widely played - badly. Even most pros have trouble getting on top of it. She nails it. Great March tempo, not a drag race. Clean, expressive, gorgeous languid middle section, meaty sound in the bass. Brava!
Her rhythm is almost the same as that of Rachmaninoff's recording. She expressed Rachmaninoff's emotions almost perfectly. In addition, she cleverly used the middle pedal. This is a very special treatment.
This is one of the best interpretation. Bravo...
I've watched tons of interpretation for this piece, I just love yours, thank you
I've heard this prelude many times, but don't think I've ever seen anyone play it before. This pianist certainly has the chops! I see comments that it's slower (than whose playing?) but watch her hands, constantly in motion. And this prelude should not be rushed through anyway. I like to hear all those notes!
Браво!!! Великолепное исполнение
I love how she sings the notes in her head but mimics the notes with her mouth x)
I just love this! I come back to it over and over.
So wunderschön gespielt von Yuja Wang, danke!
Her performance is always exciting.
I’ve watched this over 50 times
Me toooo
That is a good idea
Beautiful composition and charming performance,TYSM lady Yuja ♫♪♥
By far my favorite interpretation of this piece!
What an amazing pianist she is. There are so many good pianists these days, young and established but Yuja is unsurpassed. A fantastic performance, absolutely stunning - I can't wait to see her live in the not too distant future. Hopefully in London.
AMAZING--- I have no words, only admiration, listening in awe.
Not only she has incredible skills but she is also so beautiful
when the subtitles catches the vibe
Durch ihr perfektes, intelligentes und zudem tief berührendes Spiel werden neue Sichtweisen und Strukturen erkennbar. Im Mittelteil sind vernetzte Motive hörbar und musikalische Emotionen geweckt. Frau Yuja Wang ist ein wahres Gesamtkunstwerk. 👏...
Sencillamente Maravillosa. Mucho Espíritu, Mucho Talento.
Dearest Wang Yuja,
Thank you for your life in all that it ever has been, ever is, and ever will be! May your Divine love, wisdom, and understanding in your actions of the music expressed through you, touch the hearts and minds of all humanity and beyond. May the Divinity of the music as Divinely expressed through you, reach the Divinity of all humanity, in this world and beyond. May your Divine expressions through your love and understanding of the music, reach through to all the Divine love and wisdom of all humanity, and beyond. May we fortunate enough to have heard the music expressed through you, experience in our hearts and minds, a miraculous and revolutionary reverence towards a peaceful loving healing of all our hearts and minds, upon hearing you play, may it inspire in us all a greater realisation towards all our aspirations for what is possible within a greater understanding and fathoming of all our hearts and minds, upon us hearing the music played through you, May it spark a revolution in our aspirations for what is possible for the whole world over, and over, and over, May all our hearts and minds be healed, the whole world over, and over, and over, as well as through, and through, and through, May we all be blessedly healed. May the realisation for a revolution in our aspirations for what is possible through you, then extend further to all of nature in this world and, beyond, and beyond, and, beyond. May your Divine fathoming and actions of the music forever free you from all attachment and aversion and forever and instantaneously set you free from all and any torment and suffering, May this be true for you in music, as well as true for you in life, may you forever be free from all torment and suffering. Then through your realisation of freedom, may we all without exception, through your freedom, may we all without exception, may we all without exception be set free too…May this be in all, May it be for all, May it be in all, for all, in all, in all the Ten directions, and may it be in all the Four times, and beyond, and beyond, and beyond...
Wang Yuja, May you live a long, and prosperous, happy fruitful life, and may the world be a better place for having you been born, lived, learned, played and shared your life within it!
With Love from Love to Love,
Yours Sincerely, Faithfully and Forevermore….
Will you someday please bless us in person here too on our shores in Australia, with a visit to Sydney or Melbourne with one or more of your blessed performance’s?
--
Always such a joy listening to her playing.
Oh my God this is the best song I ever heard yuja wang's performance is so good
Великое произведение, великолепное исполнение!
Единственная женщина в Мире, кто , РЕАЛЬНО, КРУТО ИГРАЕТ НА РОЯЛЕ!!! По серьёзным меркам настоящего ИСКУССТВА!
I love when people argue about tempo. And phrasing. And dynamics. That’s when you know a piece of music is meaningful, relevant. I mean damn, this music is so amazing, that the only real disagreements we can have are on how fast it is or how loud it may be?
Thank you Rach, Chopin,Schubert....!!!! What a gift!
(In honest attempt to make some readers mad, the plural of tempo was purposely avoided in opening sentence)
During the B section where that inner melody comes in, I didn’t even realize it was there until I heard this recording. This performance is amazing!
I'm not familiar with the piece, can you give me a time stamp so I can try to hear it as well? :)
@@Vivlon_ It starts at 1:50 ish.
钢琴最难的不是技巧,而是怎样诠释里面的世界。你做到了,感谢你王羽佳。
What a marvelous playing,best version ever
This is easily the best performance of this piece I've ever heard
As always, an unbeatable performance that is a joy to listen to. You have the 'Top Notch' as always. Looking forward to more beautiful music from you, Yuja. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful talent and personal interpretation in everything you play.
Well said!
The New York Times Review. Yuja Wang Plays Dazed Chaos, Then 7 Encores By Zachary Woolfe May 18, 2018 The usual praise for a musician who plays a recital in a big hall is that he or she makes that big hall feel small. But on Thursday, the pianist Yuja Wang made Carnegie Hall seem even vaster than normal: big, empty, lonely. Through her concert’s uncompromisingly grim first half and its wary, stunned second, Ms. Wang charted wholly dark, private emotions. She was in no way hostile toward an adoring (if slightly disoriented) audience, but neither did she seem at all interested in seducing it. After the playbills had been printed, Ms. Wang - who will have a Perspectives series at Carnegie next season - revised her program. She subtracted two of the four Rachmaninoff preludes she’d planned to give before intermission and added an extra three of his later, even less scrutable Études-Tableaux. Ms. Wang played none of these pieces in a way that made them seem grounded or orderly; she even seemed to want to run the seven together in an unbroken, heady minor-key span, a choice that most - but not enough - of the audience respected by not clapping in between. Even divided by light applause, these pieces blurred into and stretched toward one another. Doing nothing that felt exaggerated or overwrought, Ms. Wang emphasized unsettled harmonies and de-emphasized melodic integrity. The Étude-Tableau, in E-flat Minor (Op. 33, No. 6) wasn’t the juxtaposition of one hand’s abstraction and the other’s clear etching. No, she was telling two surreal tales at once. The martial opening of the Prelude in G Minor (Op. 23, No. 5) swiftly unraveled into something woozy and bewildering. The washes of sound in the Étude-Tableau in C Minor (Op. 39, No. 1) were set alongside insectlike fingerwork - neurotic, insistent, claustrophobic. ... Her bending of the line in the Étude-Tableau in B Minor (Op. 39, No. 4) felt like the turning of a widening gyre, infusing the evocation of aristocratic nostalgia with anxiety. (Rachmaninoff composed most of the works Ms. Wang played as World War I loomed and unfolded, and the 19th century finally ended.) The stretched-out, washed-out quality of melancholy in her account of the Étude-Tableau in C Minor (Op. 33, No. 3), made that sorrow seem more like resignation: The loneliness she depicted felt familiar to her, even comfortable. The prevailing mood - dreamlike sadness; a feeling of being lost; rushing through darkness - continued in what followed. The relentless trills and tremolos of Scriabin’s Sonata No. 10 - which is sometimes played lusciously but was here diffuse and gauzy - glittered angrily. Three Ligeti etudes from the 1980s and ’90s proved that Rachmaninoff and Scriabin, as she presented them, were presentiments of the modernism of the distant future. There was the sense that more time than just 20 minutes - decades, perhaps - had elapsed during intermission, after which Ms. Wang played Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 8, composed during World War II. Here, playing with guarded poise, Ms. Wang seemed to inhabit a kind of aftermath of the dazed chaos she had depicted in the early-20th-century works on the first half. The contours were sharper now, the colors brighter and bolder. The effect was still unnerving. I considered whether Ms. Wang’s flamboyant clothes - in the first half, a floor-length purple gown with only a slash of sparkle covering her breasts; in the second, a tiny iridescent turquoise dress with vertiginous heels - were the right costume here. They did give the impression that she had arrived alone, a disconcerting combination of powerful and vulnerable, at a not particularly appealing party. In that sense they were a fitting complement to her ominous vision of this music. Likewise, it seemed at first that a few of her seven - yes, seven - encores jarred with the forlorn mood she’d built up. Vladimir Horowitz’s “Carmen” fantasia, an Art Tatum stride version of “Tea for Two,” a demented arrangement of Mozart’s “Rondo alla Turca” - all were blazingly performed but had a touch of cheerful kitsch about them. But perhaps they, too, were of a piece with the intoxication that permeated the recital. ... And by the end, as she followed the “Mélodie” from Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice” with Schubert’s “Gretchen am Spinnrade,” Ms. Wang finally seemed to have found a measure of real, hard-earned peace.
This outstanding recital finds her in top form. I have a growing respect for amiable young woman.
Very heavy key-hitting, cristalized and bright sound,clean and beautiful sound, multi-levelled and varied interpretation, very sophiscated and fine. Talent ! World Top Class !
Glad you like it!
I really like this, because it is not overly percussive. Most of the time, many pianists really over exaggerated the rhythm. It made very tiring to listen. This one is really musical.
Brilliant musicianship - pure joy on her face too….