The next superstar pianist. Yuja Wang.

Be careful of what you wish for from that genie. You think I wanted a 12 inch pianist?

 

Nope. In L.A.

 

So Monday I travel to go see Yuja record her next CD. I'll be doing her makeup for the video taping of the concerts and the rehearsals. And!!!! The CD cover!!! I have never had the privilege to do something like this. Should be an amazing week.

 

GDI! I wish I saw your offer back then . Two of my friends went to that performance and said it was amazing. Even though I am a season ticket holder with the SFS, I was doing it wrong and didn't include the Rach in my lineup.

I'm seeing her with MTT and the SFS on March 6th. Is anyone else going to that performance?

 

Yeah, I am

 

That's awesome!

 

I hear she's doing a duet album with Biggus Dickus.


............I'll get me coat.

 

Really?


Biggus Dickus was some pompous elitist Roman with a speech impediment. He wasn't even a musician. Jeezus!!!

 

Sorry, carry on.



She has a sister, you know.....

 

..... Sukma.

 

I just ordered this based on this thread and the fact it's available on Blu-ray.

What are your thoughts on the following performance (DVD only)?

 

Well, I may be the wrong guy to ask. It's interesting. The Prokofiev III, like so many other great concertos, can be played sooooo many different ways. Yuja has her own very distinctive take on that piece. A few years back I went to see Torazde and Gergiev perform this concerto. Here are some reviews of their recording together.
http://www.amazon.com/Prokofiev-The-Five-Piano-Concertos/dp/B0000069CQ

Here is a clip of them playing the finale live.



Personally their interpretation left me scratching my head. it seemed like a chaotic, insane funeral durge. Now some folks may like that. In fact, given the rave reviews clearly many people like that. Yuja's interpretation is completely different. When she plays it you can feel the wind in your hair. it's an exhilarating ride. The music glides and dances and sparkles. Now it seems some folks don't like that. Me? I love it. Now it's a different story somewhat with each different conductor. Personally I don't think Abado brings out the best in her. he tends to slow down the tempos IMO and he's just a little to reserved. So I don't think this particular recording is Yuja at her best. But I still quite like it. Here is a clip of the entire 3rd movement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_krRNdVnO0

However I think this best represents her take on the piece. This one is really high energy. This is the full concerto. This one is a wild ride.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln_vkFnZrd0

I recommend both discs but hopefully the clips will give you an idea of what to expect.

 

I like "high energy" piano in most any genre. She reminds me of Hiromi Uehara - Wonderful to observe live or on video. Thanks for the links.

Now, if she can only compose...

 

http://www.venezuelasinfonica.com/e...rquesta-sinfonica-simon-bolivar-de-venezuela/

 

So it is no longer under wraps.

The next CD is Yuja Wang playing Prokofiev Piano Concerto II and Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto III with Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Orchestra recorded over three concerts in Cararcas Venezuela.

 

Rehearsal

l

 

Still a couple really good seats left for Yuja's recital at Disney Hall, Sunday evening March 24th 2013.

https://oss.ticketmaster.com/html/request.htmI?l=EN&team=laphil&STAGE=1&PROC=BUY&EventName=EWD0324E

The Orchestra view section Rows D and E seats 252,253 of each row are 50 dollar seats with a superb view. they will not last long. This section went on sale just a week ago without any announcement. So if interested I would recommend buying ASAP

 

Pianist Yuja Wang triumphs in her Beethoven concerto performance

http://www.examiner.com/article/pia...hs-her-beethoven-concerto-performance?cid=rss

 

http://www.seenandheard-international.com/2013/03/09/offbeat-openings-and-experiments-with-form/

"Although all three rides had their thrills, the highlight—not unexpectedly—was Yuja Wang’s breathtaking playing in the Beethoven. Few pianists can match her combination of jaw-dropping precision and a flexibility that creates elegance and reflects the music’s emotions. Those opening chords, for example, emerged out of nowhere and undulated gently, with just enough hesitance to feel as if she were improvising.
Wang is not one of those young pianists who dazzle us simply with technique. She has something to say with each utterance, and every new phrase found her exploring new ways to shape it. Runs had lapidary clarity, no matter how quick the tempo. Every turn expressed something fresh, all within a Beethovenian framework."

 

http://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...ang-review-20130326,0,2575431.story?track=rss

Review from Yuja's Disney hall debute recital which was sold out.

Music review: Yuja Wang inspires wonder at Disney Hall

The young pianist displays speed, agility and strength, but also a quiet side, in a recital including works by Scriabin and Rachmaninoff.


Best part of the review....

" One of the town's best and most admired pianists said in awe as he left the hall, "I used to be a pianist."

 

Well, I'll look forward to hearing her recordings, but I'm heavily skeptical that yet another good-looking, young Asian pianist (violinist, etc.) is the Next Big Thing. I mean, she may be, and you know she'll have the requisite dazzling technique, big enough to surmount the challenges even of the Ligeti etudes.

But do we really need another version of the Chopin and Liszt sonatas on her recital discs? I have a feeling that the real next big thing won't show up on a major label, playing hackneyed repertory. Artists like Hamelin had the right idea: build a career around less-recorded and -performed works, and eventually they will come. That way, too, you won't find yourself dropped from a major-label roster, as Li was, in favor of-- you guessed it-- the Next Big Thing.

 

Do you think she would be a more legitimate artist if she were less good looking or perhaps not Asian?

Are any choices of material in the classical world a matter of "need?"

Is there really such a thing as "the" right idea?

Do you think Yuja Wang is in danger of being dropped by DG?

I do recall 4 years+ ago when I first saw Yuja and raved about her on these forums a few regulars predicted she would be a flash in the pan and would disappear in a few years. Well it's been a few years and then some and she has hardly disappeared. She is the only soloist selling out Disney Hall and having an autograph line that wraps around the block. You may be skeptical that she will be the next big thing but it's too late. She already is the next big thing.

 

As I said, I hope she's as good as you insist she is. As for her Asian ethnicity, not an issue for me. I'll be pleased as punch if she's the Mitsuko Uchida of her generation.

Nor am I troubled that she's young and attractive-- though there is a pattern recently, isn't there, of major labels choosing to sign and hype such artists, only to discard them later, e.g. Li?

And as for repertoire-- call me crazy, but we didn't, well, need redundant records of warhorses by Lang Lang, did we? This is what the majors do-- encourage their young hotties to give the world another Rach 3 or Beethoven Appassionata. Meanwhile, is there any more conservative, hidebound, risk-averse corner of the classical music world than that of the concert pianist?

 

Verily, the next Rachmaninoff, in more ways than one!