In Sunday’s (8/14) New York Times, Anthony Tommasini writes, “The latest young pianist from China to excite classical music audiences and earn raves from critics is the 24-year-old Yuja Wang, a distinctive artist with a comprehensive technique. That Ms. Wang is already a musician of consequence was made clear this year when Deutsche Grammophon released her first recording with an orchestra: performances of Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and Second Piano Concerto with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. The conductor is Claudio Abbado, no less, a towering maestro who is extremely discriminating in his choice of collaborators. Ms. Wang’s virtuosity is stunning. But is that so unusual these days? Not really. … Many piano teachers, critics and commentators have noted the phenomenon, which is not unlike what happens in sports. … The pianist Jerome Lowenthal, a longtime faculty member at Juilliard, said in a recent telephone interview from California that a phenomenon is absolutely taking place. He observes it in his own studio. When the 1996 movie ‘Shine,’ about the mentally ill pianist David Helfgott, raised curiosity about Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto, Mr. Lowenthal was asked by reporters whether this piece was as formidably difficult as the movie had suggested. He said that he had two answers: ‘One was that this piece truly is terribly hard. Two was that all my 16-year-old students were playing it.’ “
Posted August 16, 2011
