pianist Yuja Wang’s Debut recording Sonatas & Etudes

By -

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

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In ...
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

Teaching Composition – What are we trying to achieve

By -
In the process of learning composition I have spent time with a number of instructors who have encouraged me to write twelve-tone, pitch-class, electro-acoustic and other forms of experimental techniques. No matter how much I might understand and appreciate the work of other composers in the genres, these are not forms of music I resonate with. They are simply not forms of music I listen to and I struggle with the idea of writing them. However, in a Master Class by Libby Larsen she made the comment, “Learn them all, because all forms of music have something to offer.” This I very much agree. There are elements of each of the above mentioned forms (and others) that I do resonate with. Berg’s Violin Concerto is a beautiful twelve-tone work, although it is possible to look at numerous sections of the music with a “tonal” analysis. Another composer friend, Gary Bachlund commented that using these techniques can narrow the choices for how to compose a piece of work. If you look at ...
Read more