Rachmaninov Piano Concertos Nos 1-4; Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Yuja Wang (piano); Los Angeles Philharmonic/Gustavo Dudamel DG 486 4759 141:22 mins (2 discs)
This dazzling recording of all Rachmaninov’s piano concertos, and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, by Yuja Wang and long-time collaborators Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, was recorded in concert over two weekends in February this year. A full-on endeavour, it was not quite as hardcore as the marathon four-hour concert version she did with the New York Philharmonic some few months earlier.
Rachmaninov’s First Piano Concerto opens in thundering style, before a glittering pianistic masterclass in high-speed touch from Wang, alternating between virtuosic shimmering and emotive depth. Wang peppers the finale with intermittent sparkling lightness of heart, honing skilfully in on a sense of wit, here as elsewhere.
The Second Piano Concerto opens in slow and portentous fashion, to sweeping synergism in the orchestra. But the second-movement Andante seems to lose its way, as if so keen to avoid any over-romanticism that the insistent articulation trips up the flow. There seems, too, a slight disconnect between piano and orchestra, here as later in the Fourth Piano Concerto, and the orchestra eschews Rachmaninovian heft for something more airy. The third movement, however, is suitably thrilling.
The Third Piano Concerto is perhaps elusive, but crowned with the wit and bravura of Wang’s wild finale. The Fourth opens in convincing technicolour, with Wang subtly emphasising the Largo’s gently jazzy writing – here her detailed articulation pays dividends. The Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is driven but imbalanced. The romantic Variation XVIII is played with a brilliantly disarming, even wounded, ‘simplicity’ by Wang, making the LA Phil’s swoons perhaps too straightforward.
Sarah Urwin Jones
