Yuja Wang: The Vienna Recital album review — superb accomplishment
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Save the air fare to Austria. This album offers a live recording of the multifarious recital that Yuja Wang gave at the Konzerthaus in Vienna on April 26 2022. It fits in almost the whole performance, save her opening Schoenberg and half a dozen of her 10 (no less!) encores.
The programme is an intriguing game of mix and match, in which a pair of semi-weighty sonatas are interspersed with lively short pieces in wildly diverse styles. Few of her chosen items were written primarily as showpieces, but Wang’s technical mastery means that each impresses with its brilliance at some point or other.
The two substantial works are Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No 8 in E Flat, Op 31 No 3, sometimes known as “The Hunt”, and Scriabin’s soulful Piano Sonata No 3 in F Sharp Minor. Clean-cut, characterised by fast-moving detail, the Beethoven is witty, thoughtful and sparkling by turns. The Scriabin dares some intimately soft playing in the context of a live performance in a large hall.
In between come a couple of movements from Albéniz’s Iberia, catching the glint of the Spanish sun, and two of Kapustin’s Preludes, which bring jazz-inflected spontaneity to the mix. A pair of Ligeti’s Etudes (No 6 “Automne a Varsovie” and No 13 “L’escalier du diable”) show what virtuosity Wang can unleash when she wants.
If the programme appeals, there is superb accomplishment and delightful entertainment to be had here in equal measure.
★★★★☆
‘The Vienna Recital’ is released by DG
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