Yuja Wang's Carnegie Hall Debut Recital

YUJA WANG, the orange minidress pianist who stirred a turbulence in the conservative classical musicians' world has eventually reached the stage of the Carnegie Hall. My excitement for this recital has made my dreadful weeks passed-by very delightfully.

The tiers and ground hall were very much crowded and the anticipating audiences were very respectful of her appearance. They hold their cough (as well as breath I believe) while she performed and relieved the itches in between the movements, in between pieces- as my students and I did.

Scriabin Preludes in B Major, B Minor, G # Minor, Etude in G# Minor, and Poeme in F # Major

Her Scriabin were all very breathtaking. Scriabin's musical style has so many scattered motifs and lyrical. It is so hard to interpret his music. Yuja performed them with great ease and assurance. I especially like the last one (Poeme in F # Major, op. 32, No. 1). Very natural. Very lyrical. The phrasing was so delicate. She managed to phrase different layers of sounds at different levels that were going on at the same time. What is the word to describe this? Poetic. Em, Natural. Em, lyrical, breathtaking! These pieces by Scriabin exposed the other side of bravura Wang. She could be touchy feel-y dreamy when she needs to.

Prokofiev Sonata No. 6 in A Major, Op 82

Her Prokofiev was very amazing. The phrases, the big sounds, the atmosphere she created with the tone combinations. She did not push the tempo like other crazily speed-obsessed pianists in this one. Instead, she focused on crafting the piece out with a strategic structure and tone colors. I.e, there are build up to climax, climax, contrasting to intensity, etc. And yes, you can do tone colors in Prokofiev's No 6 Sonata. Yuja just showed us. But still tone colors is Yundi Li's Game. Yuja's strengths are big sound, power and speed. Being a very skillful pianist, sometimes I feel that she went to the next thing too soon. She could build the anticipation towards certain surprises in the piece by giving it a couple milliseconds wait, lingering the audiences' ears towards the next musical motif.

Liszt Sonata in B Minor

After the intermission, Yuja returned to stage with a more gothic gown. It is a brilliant choice for Liszt's B Minor Sonata. As we all know Liszt had a thing for composing devilish, dark, scary music. Sonata in B Minor is one of them. And this is my favorite out of the whole program. The recurring, cyclic theme can get stuck in anyone's mind so easily. Of course, as usual, in Liszt's pieces, a pianist would need to exploit all the pianistic techniques that s/he has learnt. But more than usual, Yuja's speedy rotations all over places, making very (really) scary sounds as the piece demands. She managed certain parts with eerie tone combinations that Liszt would want. That reminds me of Halloween approaching. (Of course I knew that.) In my opinion, she has more tone colors in this 30 min long sonata. It is very enjoyable and refreshing to listen to her unique interpretations. However, she seemed to have a little problem making big sounds on higher range of the piano. Maybe she was injured? I read that she had to cancel some performance plans due to injury recently. It must be her right hand. Towards the end, she concluded the excitements and intensities with short peaceful phrases and then -silence.

Her encores.

Due to the enduring applaud, she had to give as many as 4 encores. Of course being her big fan, I had already heard all of her encores from Youtube. So, they were no surprises to me. However, these pieces were very appealing to my students as they are all flashy, exciting, and easier to grasp.

I did realized that she seemed to have just recovered from arm injuries as she couldn't make certain big sounds that she usually did. But the standard of the performances is perfected to highly professional level as Yuja is always very sure of herself. She is very sure of what kind of sound she wanted, where she is going in the music, how she make the sounds, etc. She must have gone through a great discipline to reach these accomplishments at her young age. She has become the inspiration of my students who went to the recital with me tonight. I bet they are so pumped up to practice right when they hit homes.

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Stephen Hough's Solo Recital at Carnegie Hall on Feb 12, 09

The light dimmed. The audience applauded. The pianist entered.

He was Stephen Hough. His unique interpretation of character pieces drew me back to listen to him again. He is a refined pianist with integration and in-depth perceptiveness.

Sitting at the bench, Hough wiped his hands and the 88 steinway keys with the blue handkerchief that he brought along. Without further ado, he tossed the rag and strummed the D minor chord that opens Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor.

Looking at the program, this is a modified version by the great piano teacher, Alfred Cortot and Hough himself. To my ears, this is a very romantic version of Baroque music with somewhat steady pulse/beat. Dramatic momentum built up gradually everytime the theme came back in the Fugue. Pedal was used to create bigger and broader sound in the passages of running notes and some lower range chords in the Toccata. I like the toccata ever since Prodigy violinist Venessa Mae performed it on her electronic violin. It has stucked in my head since then.

The abrupt and dramatic ending of the Toccata contrast with the very soft beginning of the Fugue. Coincidentally, my morning clock alarm that I set in my blackberry is the midi version of the same fugue. Now what I got to hear from Hough's hands was the romantized and pedalled version of Fugue. The entrance of the themes at different range with carefully shaped phrase lines at different dynamic created the engaging effect of the polyphony layers. The Fugue is originally played on an organ which sounds much noisier and quite monotonous. This modified Fugue for piano makes the most of the piano pedal. Also, this piece was an intelligent choice for Hough to explore the acoustic space of the Carnegie Hall with the warm-up like music structure and high intensity at the end of the piece .


GABRIEL FAURE'S NOCTURNE NO. 6 IN D-FLAT MAJOR, IMPROMPTU NO. 5 IN F-SHARP, BARCAROLLE NO. 5 IN F-SHARP MAJOR.

Hough caught his breath in these soft and light pieces. He is in fact a master of such pieces. I remembered borrowing Hough's CD recording from Dr Mohr when I was in college. If I was not told that Hough was the pianist, I would mistake that recording as a performance by a sensitive, delicate, elegant, and stylish female pianist. I remember asking my studio professor a startling question, "Is he gay?"
However, I think it is good to be more delicate, sensitive, elegant, and classier than a female for a pianist. These small pieces by Faure were all wonderful and pleasing under Hough's fingers.

Hough poses very skillfull use of pedal and creative use of concert hall space to echo the sound of piano. He can create a soft and clear sound that fills up the space in several ways. It amuses me. It is the reason that some pianists are good at playing live. And the reason that people go to piano concert instead of listening to CDs.

CESAR FRANK'S PRELUDE, CHORALE, AND FUGUE.

I've listened to this piece played by my college peer Susan Haller in her senior recital. There is a special part of the piece that I love- the part where the pianist "swept" a group of chords over the keys and sing the theme. I enjoyed listening to this piece by Hough. However, a very beautiful Asian girl who wore a tight red shirt and really low cut tight jeans sitting at my left front kept itching her head and her underarms. She is already distractively beautiful and sexy. And yet she kept scratching all over her body like a restless monkey and blocked my sight of Hough. Also to the front right, a bald head who got high listening to the prelude part and swang his bald head to the rhythm. Then when the piece came to the softer session, I vaguely heard the snore of a guy sitting at the right end of my row. (OH MY GOD.) Then the whispers and laughter of two French ladies sitting beside me about the sleeping guy. Maybe, he had a long day before coming to the concert just like me. Hough's performing style is very sentimental, elegant, comforting, and he never "bang" the piano (to wake up the guy). I didn't fall asleep though. I knew why he visited his dreamland. With the accompaniment of soothing music, he simply relaxed.

In the intermission, Hough's tuner came to stage to tune the Steinway. He did the same thing that Hough did before he started playing anything-wiped the piano keys. Maybe the piano in carnegie hall is very dirty. Maybe Hough has very sweaty hands. But the tuner seemed to tune the higher ranges according to Hough's certain specific request.

AARON COPLAN'S PIANO VARIATIONS

After intermission, Aaron Copland's Piano Variations were played. I like the theme and certain variations. I am not sure whether this piece is supposed to sound a little less exciting or Hough was getting a little tired. Somehow I felt that my friend Susan Haller can play this better. Hough sounded a wee bit too careful and this piece does not resemble his original temperament. However, his careful tone colors revealed his brilliant interpretation of the variation set.

CHOPIN NOCTURNE AND SONATA

The piece ended fast and Hough resolved all the dissonances lingering in the air with a simple and lyrical Nocturne by Chopin in B. The nocturne cleansed the muddy, conflicted mood hanging after Copland's Variations.

I remember first attending Hough's recital years ago in Appleton, Wisconson. At that time, he performed all the Chopin's Ballades in the second half of his recital. It was so breathtaking and it broke me into tears. So, I think he was back to his game when he played Chopin. But this time he did not make me weep. The final piece listed in the program yesterday night was Chopin's sonata no. 3. I enjoyed listening to the 3rd and the 4th movements where the long lyrical movement in "largo" was taken over by the stormy, energetic and bravura 4th movement in "presto, ma non tanto" in a dramatic transition.

Due to the non-stopping applaud, Hough came back to the stage and rewarded the audience with some musical "desserts"-Albeniz's short pieces with spanish flavor and Claude Debussy's prelude- The Girl With the Flaxen Hair. They were all sweet, pleasing, and short.

LESS IS MORE

In general, Hough has a preference of quality over quantity. His program was a little bit shorter compared to other pianists who performed a marathon of athletic program in Carnegie Hall. Also contrast to them, Hough performed his program extremely well. Manufact, "extremely well" is an understatement. He made the audience go back home with a mind being calmed, and a soul being nourished and ears being tuned. He is a refined pianist, a great artist, and a generous soul.

Boston Symphony at Carnegie.

"Boston Symphony tickets, Boston Symphony tonight, any one?"
I thought I was going to miss the chance to listen to Jewish pianist Daniel Balenboim when I was told that the ticket were sold out earlier in the morning. However, I still came back to try my luck. And, luck was, indeed on my side. I would complain about the heavy rain pour in the evening and being swore by rude impatient New Yorker in the subway station, but I would not complain about the price of the ticket. Because, first of all, the seller sold it to me although there were 4 other people wanting to buy it. In addition to that, he knew that I was looking for a ticket since I walked out from the ticket office that morning.... (I know what you are thinking, what a creepy guy)

Anyways, the point is, I got to listen to Daniel Balenboim. And also Boston Symphony under James Levine's baton. I was so happy that I don't care about all the odds that cross my will.

The concert began with a surprise- conductor James Levine and Pianist Daniel Balenboim performed a piano duet Fantasy by Schubert. Both are world famous conductors, skillful pianists, and big guys sitting parallel at the piano. Although they may look awkwardly crowded at the piano, I could hear unusually breathtaking phrasing, colorful atmosphere, artful pause, and smooth cooperation of voicing and accompanying texture. I felt like being brought into a different world (maybe of fantasy) while closing my eyes to listen. That was what makes the performances fabulous: One symphony conductor and one opera conductor utilized all their imaginative talents :)

After that, Beethoven Piano Concerto was performed. Pianist Daniel Balenboim performed with great palette of tone color. He has a great lyrical sense maybe because he had been conducting opera singers. The tension and release of the music was powerful and touching under Borenboim's fingers and Levine's baton. Something new that I had learnt is, Levine actually sit at a swing stool to conduct. It was kind of weird but after I googled him online, I found out that he had a health reason for that special setting.

As a conductor also, pianist Balenboim has a strong and unique sense of rhythm in performing. And aria style of approach to lyrical lines.He is undeniably a maestro :). Anyone who can be his student is so darn lucky.

After the intermission, Balenboim remained at the piano bench, Elliot Carter's "Interventions for Piano and Orchestra" was premiered. That was an artfully stimulating modern piece. After the performance, a birthday cake was presented to the stage, and the 100th year-old american composer was invited to make a wish and blow the candle. In the program book, Carter shared that "the rite of spring" by stravinsky inspired him to become a music composer. And Carter is a composer who composes more and more as he gets older. Anyways, it was a great honor to witness a composer mentioned in my music textbook in real person celebrating his 100 birthday after his new piece. That was a great historical moment but I didn't bring my camera :( darn....

And the last piece performed by Boston Symphony was Mr Carter's inspiration in becoming a composer- "The Rite of Spring". Because it was very disharmonic and percussive, most audience couldn't appreciate it. Who said music has to be pretty and in rigid harmony? The percussiveness in "The rite of spring" actually challenges the audience with its extreme intensity, energy, and dynamic. It actually sounds dangerously adventurous and yet amazing as ever.

Maurizio Pollini's Piano Recital at Carnegie "Perspective Series"

Italian Pollini is a respected figure in piano world for his undefeatable and terrific accuracy musical memory and athletic piano performance. I was personally amazed at his recording of Three Movements of Petroushka composed by Stravinsky. I had been longing to watch/listen to his live performance since I've listen to that recording (to figure out how many fingers he has LOL). Last year fall, I was lucky enough to attend his solo recital in Carnegie Hall.


While the audience applauding, Pollini walked enthusiastically toward piano bench and then smiled and bowed to greet the audience. From his smile, he looks like an innocently charismatic person.

Pollini opened his recital with Beethoven Sonatas: Tempest Sonata, and Appassionate.I think his performance of the sonatas were energetic but steady and careful but fabulous.In short, he "rocks". However, the aria beginning of the Tempest Sonata first movement sounded a little unsure of himself. But of course, he didn't hit a single wrong note, so that makes his performance perfect in certain sense :) because maybe audience will agree that they don't pay that much of money to hear wrong notes. LOL

After the Beethoven pieces, he proceed with a set of Chopin's Mazurkas.It actually surprised me to find lyrical side of Pollini's performance. In fact, in my personal opinion, although I like Yundi Li's performance style in general, Pollini performed this set of marzurkas better than Yundi Li's (note: Yundi Li performed a different set of Chopin's Mazurkas earlier in his own recital at Carnegie)

Then Schumann's Fantasy were performed. This time though, Pollini sounded a little emotionally confused. Maybe he hit all the right note. I kind of lost myself in figuring what Schumann was trying to "express" through the piece.

Then his performance of virtuosic Chopin's Scherzo in b-minor was very athletic and robotic in general. His digital accuracy seemed carefully calculated. However, he seemed to ignore the atmosphere that the Scherzo conveys.

As a sincere gratitue to the audience's eager support (his recital tickets were all sold out), Pollini gave 3 encores to end the afternoon recital. They were Chopin's Nocturne (forgot the opus number, but my favorite one), Revolutionary C minor Etude,and Etude in C sharp minor. Please note, he played the etudes with "NO SWEAT". Looking at his appearance, he may be an old guy but he is definitely pianistically "fit".