Yuja Wang plays Ravel
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RAVEL / FAURE
Yuja Wang plays Ravel
Yuja Wang (piano) / Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Lionel Bringuier
[ Deutche Grammophon / CD ]
Release Date: Friday 6 November 2015
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Yuja Wang has established herself as an international sensation. She plays with the world's leading orchestras-including those of New York, London, Amsterdam, and Berlin-regularly joining them on tours of the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
On her eagerly expected new orchestral album she wows with two perennial hits: Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major and The Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D major. Both are heavily influenced by jazz, which Ravel had encountered on a concert tour of the United States in 1928. He composed both concertos between 1929 and 1930. The latter was commissioned by the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm during World War I.
Yuja, young stellar conductor Lionel Bringuier and celebrated Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich are the perfect match to inflame Ravel's vibrant sound. The melding of Yuja's legendary technical skills with her interpretative intelligence transforms this album into a profound musical experience with a haunting and jazzy sound.
"A good project on paper does not always translate to a successful recording. In this case, however, it does - with knobs on. Five years ago, when I wrote a Collection piece for these pages on Ravel's G major Concerto, I put Jean Casadesus at the top, closely followed by Anne Queffélec, Michelangeli and Argerich. I'm not sure I wouldn't have awarded the palme d'or to this recording. The outer movements are so deliciously light, like the most perfect soufflé, executed with disarming insouciance by pianist and orchestra alike, exemplified by the cheeky clarinet and trombone licks at the start of the third movement. Yet the central section of the first movement with the important harp solo is uncommonly eerie, as is that dissonant passage in the slow movement (4'28", fig 4). You could not wish for a more atmospheric account of this concerto - nor a more thrilling one.
The same applies to the Left Hand Concerto with an opening that is truly sinister (in both senses) but where Yuja Wang keeps the texture feather-light in the G major, here she employs the full ringing resonance of her instrument. Technically, of course, she is fairly awesome in a recording of crystalline clarity and depth. Between the two concertos comes a crisp, unsentimental account of the original solo version of Fauré's Ballade." (Editor's Choice Gramophone November 2015)
Tracks:
Fauré:
Ballade in F sharp major for solo piano or piano & orchestra, Op. 19
Ravel:
Piano Concerto in G major
Piano Concerto in D major (for the left hand)
