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I'm a Rach worshipper !......Lang Lang aint for me either !...

I just cited the Guardian for interest. There were a couple of other reviews that had remarkably similar comments. Of course you are entitled to your opinion. So I am not trying to compare your take to the others. I have seen Ms Wang in recital and was impressed with the fireworks but not the music, but she has been catapulted to the stars very quickly. So I have been curious whether I mis-judged her playing and she has been on my radar since.


Here is Ivan Hewett at The Telegraph: "We were astonished by a phenomenon, rather than wrapped in a musical experience.

In all it was a perplexing evening, which left me cold. Which was a shame, as it contained some wonderful things. Wang’s uncanny intensity and her sheer ferocity were exactly right for the febrile heat of Scriabin’s 5th Sonata. And there were some lovely liquid moments in the slow movement of Prokofiev’s Sixth Sonata, and a keen sense of its contrapuntal layers. For a moment, one felt real warmth in the air."

Oh god, that Gilels recording of Petrushka is out of this world!

I agree, it's telling when a pianist only plays pieces that can show of their technique. I suspect that's why she doesn't play them, there's no chance to wow an audience with the speed of your octaves in - for example - a Bach fugue.

I thought the point of the Volodos arrangement was to be un-Mozartian since Mozart already gave us his take. Also, consumer-grade recorders often sound harsh. Also, there is a place for harsh in music. Also, this is not to read as an endorsement of Yuja Wang. Nor was the last sentence to be read conversely.

On YT some commenters thought that Ms. Wang added her own 2 cents to the interpretation. I'm not familiar with this piece, so I don't know how much more key banging she added to Volodos.

I see that she is scheduled to perform the Chopin Concerto No. 1 with the National Symphony in DC in December.

Well, that specific piece is supposed to be a little on the bangy side. At least, it's a virtuoso show-off piece based off the Mozart piece, which is perfectly fine! Those kinds of pieces have their time and place, and they are great fun. Cziffra did that kind of stuff ALL the time! So I'm not going to judge her off of just that.

For anyone who thinks that Yuja Wang is one-dimensional, it's worth getting hold of her first CD ('Sonatas & Etudes'), of Chopin, Liszt, Scriabin and Ligeti (how many pianists play him?). And her second CD ('Transformation'), which contains some lovely unflashy Brahms and Scarlatti.

Her Petrushka is far more multi-faceted than Gilels's and Weissenberg's (and in many ways, even Pollini's), far less relentlessly bangy (and that's an objective observation, not subjective). There's also a DVD of her playing Mendelssohn's Septet, where, despite the piano getting all the virtuosic stuff, she is truly a collaborative chamber player. Oh, and Petrushka is also there.

I wouldn't judge a young pianist solely on their virtuosic playing, though it's understandable that if you're young and have the chops, why not, er, show off a little? Richter and Gilels were both highly bangy in their youth, according to Heinrich Neuhaus, their teacher. (And they continued to bang when required into their middle-age and beyond....).

I agree. It's unfair to expect a person in their twenties to play with the maturity of someone in their fifties. I've heard Wang live and have thoroughly enjoyed it, while still realizing she was not a fully matured artist.

But, there's also this weird contemporary over-marketing of young artists who still have a ways to go musically. Oddly, DG keeps popping up as I think about this issue (as well as certain competitions). It's like the marketing people have completely eclipsed the kind of old-fashioned artistic career management that actually cared about the development of the artist.

Let's not forget that Daniel Barenboim recorded the complete Beethoven Sonatas (and Concertos) while barely out of his teens in the 1960s. And many people prefer these EMI recordings to his later, 'mature' DG cycle (Sonatas). Not to mention his later 'mature' Concerto recordings with the Berliner Philharmoniker...

I don't think musical maturity is a prerogative of the old, or those of 'mature years'. For instance, I prefer Artur Rubinstein's earlier Chopin to his later RCA recordings. And ditto for Horowitz - who became more idiosyncratic (and even perverse) with age.

Did I say that all artists always get better in every possible piece they play, as they mature? I don't think so. Neither did I say that all younger artists are always totally immature in every piece. Jeez....

Speaking of maturity, Richard Goode is one such. Though he was never in the super bangy club, his recitals from about 10 years ago did not leave me with a too memorable mark. But I saw him last week at Carnegie Hall, in a Schumann Chopin program that was incredibly beautiful. Like good wine, his music making has aged gorgeously with a very rich mesmerizing sound.

AS for Yuja Wang, I will definitely go see her again, but not before some years have passed. I bow to her skills but bail on her musicality. She leaves me dumbfounded but not smitten. I personally feel that she is still at a stage of showing what she can do rather than what she has to say about the music. As a mere audience member, I get to decide what musical experiences I am willing to submit to.

Bennevis, you sound truly bedazzled , but PLEASE not even she would compare herself to Richter!!!! And leave the cached messages out!

I haven't done an A/B comparison of the early and late Barenboim sonata cycles, but I do love the EMI set. It was originally released at about the same time as a Brendel cycle, and the critics were then more than willing to view the two as similar in overall quality, if different in style.

It takes a lot to bedazzle me - don't forget I'm (relatively) ancient .

But equally, big names are just that - big names. When I returned home, I pulled out my (live) Richter recording of Scriabin's Sonata No.5, and not only were there lots of wrong notes (understandable in this work), his range of color and articulation didn't approach hers (though he banged a lot harder). Some may prefer his playing here, but for my taste (and bearing in mind Scriabin's synesthesia), I prefer Wang's conception.

But I still yield to noone in my admiration of Richter...

P.S what cached messages?