pianist Yuja Wang’s Debut recording Sonatas & Etudes

released by Deutsche Grammophon April 7

Digital Download Available Exclusively From iTunes March 10

The highly anticipated recording debut of 22-year-old pianist Yuja Wang will be released on Tuesday, April 7, 2009 by Deutsche Grammophon, for whom Yuja is now an exclusive artist. The recording will also be released as a digital download available exclusively from iTunes on Tuesday, March 10, 2009. The CD, titled Sonatas & Etudes, comprises Chopin’s Piano Sonata no. 2 in B flat minor Op. 35 “Funeral March,” Scriabin’s Piano Sonata no. 2 in G sharp minor Op. 19, Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B minor S 178, and Ligeti’s Etude 4 “Fanfares” and Etude 10 “The Sorcerers Apprentice.”

Yuja has already received critical praise for her authority over the most complex technical demands of the keyboard repertoire, the depth of her musical insight, as well as her fresh interpretations. Reviewing her performance of Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B Minor in recital, the Washington Post remarked “She is not a guide who looks over her shoulder to make sure you are following; rather, she plunges ahead with such eagerness that one races after her, not wanting to miss a step of such strong, clear, authoritative playing. She can play powerfully or with feathery softness; she has a whole spectrum of hues in her fingers; and she goes beyond mere dexterity in her remarkable understanding.”

Yuja’s upcoming engagements include debuts with the Dallas and Pittsburgh symphonies, the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under Claudio Abbado. She will also make her London recital debut at Queen Elizabeth Hall. Additionally, she will perform with the Orchestra Mozart led by Claudio Abbado in Bologna , the San Francisco Symphony, and the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich. She will give recitals in Charleston , St. Paul , Santa Barbara , Prague , Munich , and at the Michelangeli Festival in Bergamo .

Born in Beijing in 1987, Yuja studied at Beijing ’s Central Conservatory under Ling Yuan and Zhou Guangren. Following three summers at a Canadian-Chinese artistic and cultural exchange programme in Calgary , she moved to Canada to study with Hung Kuan Chen and Tema Blackstone at the Mount Royal College Conservatory. In 2002, when Yuja was 15, she moved to Philadelphia to study with Gary Graffman at the Curtis Institute, where she graduated in 2008. In 2006 Yuja received the prestigious Gilmore Young Artist Award.

Yuja Wang: Sonatas & Etudes

CD 00289 477 8140
Also available for download
Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)
  Piano Sonata no. 2 in B flat minor op. 35
    1. Grave – Doppio movimento
    2. Scherzo
    3. Marche funèbre: Lento
    4. Finale: Presto

[24’24]
[7’49]
[6’45]
[8’21]
[1’29]
György Ligeti (1923–2006)
    5. Etude 4: Fanfares

[3’40]
Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915)
  Piano Sonata no. 2 in G sharp minor op. 19 “Sonate–Fantaisie”
    6. Andante
    7. Presto

[12’20]
[8’18]
[4’02]
György Ligeti
    8. Etude 10: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

[2’15]
Franz Liszt (1811–1886)
  Piano Sonata in B minor S 178
    9. Lento assai – Allegro energico – Grandioso – Recitativo
    10. Andante sostenuto
    11. Allegro energico – Andante sostenuto – Lento assai

[31’13]
[12’24]
[7’45]
[11’04]

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Acclaimed Fauré Quartett returns to Deutsche Grammophon with their first recording of Brahms

The Role of Music in Opera

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ