The Well-Tempered Ear

Pianist Yuja Wang’s new ‘Vienna Recital’ is another triumph

May 4, 2024
1 Comment

PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.

By Jacob Stockinger

Yuja Wang remains the hottest pianist on the touring concert circuit — and not just for her daring, high fashion clothes and her sensuous legs and arms, and her especially expressive face.

Lang Lang might make more money.

Newcomer Yunchan Lim might inspire more anticipation.

And veterans Martha Argerich and Emanuel Ax might command more authority for their interpretations.

But the supremely talented China-born, U.S.-educated Wang remains in very high critical regard and high popular demand — something that the release just yesterday of her latest album “The Vienna Recital” is sure to sustain and increase.

The recital’s program features an eclectic and somewhat unusual mix of works by Beethoven, Scriabin, Isaac Albéniz, Nikolai Kaspustin and Philip Glass (whose Etude No. 6 you can hear Wang perform in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

The Ear also likes seeing that Wang uses the music through a printed score on what appears to be an iPad.

Here is a link to a rave review by Tal Agam from the The Classic Review that is based in Tel Aviv, Israel:

What do you think of Yuja Wang?

Have you listened to The Vienna Recital?”

What do you think of it?

Do you intend to listen to it?

The Ear wants to hear.


Posted in Classical music
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Classical music: Who are the best pianists of all time? And which ones do you think were left off the list by Classic FM?

September 16, 2017
11 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

The British radio station and website Classic FM recently published its list of the 25 greatest pianists of all time.

Plus, the website also included samples of the playing where possible.

It is an impressive list, if pretty predictable — and heavily weighted towards modern or contemporary pianists. You might expect that a list of “all-time greats” would have more historical figures — and more women as well as more non-Western Europeans and non-Americans, especially Asians these days.

Here is a link:

http://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/instruments/piano/best-pianists-ever/

So The Ear started what turned out to be a long list of others who should at least be considered and maybe even included.

Here, then, is the question for this weekend: What do you think of the list? Which pianists do not belong on the list? And which are your favorite pianists who are not included in the compilation?

Leave your candidate or candidates in the COMMENT section with a link to a YouTube link of a favorite performance, wherever possible.

Happy listening!


    Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 1,232 other subscribers

    Blog Stats

    • 2,495,312 hits
    June 2024
    M T W T F S S
     12
    3456789
    10111213141516
    17181920212223
    24252627282930