In his review, Nicholas Kenyon is left in no doubt at all about Yuja Wang’s versatility in this virtuosic live performance from Vienna’s ‘Golden Hall’
Yuja Wang – The Vienna Recital
Works by Albéniz, Beethoven, Scriabin et al
Yuja Wang (piano)
Deutsche Grammophon 486 4567 74:20 mins
Clip: Scriabin – Piano Sonata No. 3 in F sharp minor, Op. 23, IV – Presto con fuoco
Wow! We no longer need to be persuaded of Yuja Wang’s versatility or technical prowess, and this is not the first time DG have taken a live recital by her and turned it into an album.
But this is an achievement on a pretty spectacular new level, and the range of musical sensibility she demonstrates here is vast.
The repertoire is typically original and mixed, with single preludes and studies enfolding two sonatas by Scriabin and Beethoven.
What binds them together might be described as dislocated dance: the hypnotic dotted rhythms of Scriabin’s convoluted 1897 Third Sonata echoed by Nikolai Kapustin’s quirky, bouncy Jazz Preludes Nos 11 and 10 and a couple of swirly movements from Albéniz’s Iberia.
Odd cross-connections emerge: her Beethoven Op. 31 No. 3 Sonata is arguably lightweight, and the racing Scherzo sounds a bit like a study, while in the dazzling Ligeti Études, the terrifying L’Escalier du Diable sounds like a manic scherzo and trio.
She can’t quite manage the ffffff that Ligeti whimsically demands here, but her rhythmic sense keeps the music aloft and totally compelling, turning this into a scary five-minute masterpiece of virtuosity.
Apparently only five of the ten encores she played are included here, though it is hard to see the point of Philip Glass’s Etude No. 6 after the Ligeti.
There’s the famous Gluck transcription by Sgambati that she often plays, and for anyone who wants to relax after the fierce concentration she has demanded of herself and us, there’s a transcription by Leticia Gomez-Tagle of Márquez’s hauntingly lovely Danzón No. 2, which was made unforgettable by Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Orchestra. Nicholas Kenyon