Yuja Wang at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, 4/21
Finally, here is the review I promised.
Ever since I listened to Yuja Wang's Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto recording I've been in awe of her. You see, the 2nd concerto has never been a huge favorite of mine. The second movement is beautiful, yes, and the third movement is exciting but there is something about the first movement that never truly grabbed me. Yuja Wang changed that. As I said, the opening chords were galvanizing, electric.
So it was with very high expectations that I went to the symphony on Saturday night, hoping to hear and see something phenomenal. It was a completely Russian program, with Kabalevsky's The Comedians op. 26 and Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings in C, op. 48 coming before the Rachmaninoff. My husband and I enjoyed the Kabalevsky more than the Tchaikovsky, which I found to be a little sad as the program notes said the serenade was one of Tchaikovsky's best orchestral works. Something was just not right. I missed reading the key in the notes, because when I heard the violins going up the C scale I leaned back in my chair and groaned silently to myself. Maybe if I had known it was in C to begin with, I would have reacted differently.
After a fairly short intermission we returned to our seats and waited for Ms. Wang to appear. I like that she is young and enjoys fashion, and in this arena she did not disappoint, walking onstage in a floor-length, one-shouldered, body-hugging black dress, with large splashes of yellows, oranges, and reds and black platform stiletto heels that had to be at least 4 or 5 inches high. Her hair was cut in a short bob, and there was a silver something threaded into a lock on her right side. Her bow is at once fantastic and hilarious; she puts her right hand to her chest, and whips herself down towards the ground in what must be the fastest uttanasana (standing forward fold) I have ever seen. At least it looked that way to me. At any rate, she is a speedy and very deep bow-er.
Maestro Abbado opened the first movement with a slightly slower tempo, a click or two down on the metronome from what I am accustomed to hearing on most records, but not so far away from the usual standards as to leave me bewildered right off the bat. Yuja entered, stating the theme in a low-key, wistful way, displaying her musicality to the crowd with just a simple melody in octaves. Very quickly I found myself straining uncomfortably to hear the piano. This balance problem was the cause of much of my upset feelings for the night. Though Yuja was sitting at a full Steinway concert grand at times the sound was reedy and underwhelming, and often was drowned out completely by the orchestra. There were even times when only the woodwinds would be playing and it would still be hard to hear the soloist. Granted, I was sitting in the back orchestra (the only seats working musicians can afford apparently; I ran into a good pianist friend in the lobby during intermission and her seats were down one row from me, and she'd run into a singer earlier) so the sound was not the best, but nevertheless it was such a letdown knowing that my ears would not be hearing what my eyes saw.
That being said, what I did hear was near-flawless and satisfying. I wished during the first movement cadenza that the orchestra would just stop playing, and Yuja could keep going on without them. She is a captivating soloist with, and I quote, "technique to burn." Nearly everything she played looked incredibly easy for her, and it was only during the cadenza that she jumped into action, leaving the bench for sit-chords, swaying right and left along the length of the piano, her hands literally a blur. And I, I was watching with glee as I had the perfect seat placement for pianist hand-viewing.
What I really want to talk about, however, is Yuja Wang's sense of musicality. Her fiery technique is only a vehicle that drives her interpretation of the music. This Rachmaninoff 3 was not only bombastic and full of pyrotechnics, but nostalgic, poignant, and tender at times. I and the audience members around me were left breathless Yuja coaxed out of that piano an unbelievable, heart-rending ppp that was barely above a whisper and was completely appropriate for the moment. I doubt I will ever hear anything quite like that ever again. I was astounded that it even carried to the back orchestra seats.
And the third movement, what a third movement! It was a treat to hear how much nuance Yuja brought out even amidst the powerhouse that is the third movement. Her phrasing and ability to bring out melodies was just as stunning as her ability to play crisp, clear repeated chords. I came away a huge admirer of her double and triple bounces and repeated action, and really, the whole package. By the end though it seemed even Rachmaninoff had cowed her, for she ended the concerto shaking her left hand, and although she returned to the stage for four curtain calls she did not play an encore.
I hope that in the future Yuja Wang gives the go-ahead to Deutsch Grammophone and records this concerto, because I would love to have her interpretation of it preserved. She is fast becoming one of my favorite pianists.
