Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor Op. 30 [40:46]
Sergei PROKOFIEV (1891-1953)
Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor Op. 16 [30:58]
Yuja Wang (piano)
Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela/Gustavo Dudamel
rec. live, Sala Simón Bolívar, Centro de Acción Social por la Música, Caracas, Venezuela, February 2013
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 4791304 [71:41]
There’s no shortage of piano prodigies these days, and
the Far East accounts for quite a few of them. Beijing-born Yuja
Wang is no exception; her career has really taken off and now
she has a recording contract with DG, whose excitable A&R
department will guarantee her maximum publicity. They’ve
certainly done wonders for Li Yundi and Lang Lang; indeed, these
pianists are touted as the fresh, young and very photogenic saviours
of what doomsters see as a dead or dying art. Gustavo Dudamel
is also a media sensation, but the hard-sell - designed to attract
new audiences - is just as likely to alienate the old ones.
Pairing Rachmaninov’s Third and Prokofiev’s Second
is a shrewd piece of marketing though; both works are highly virtuosic
and they give the soloist and orchestra quite a workout. Trouble
is, there’s so much competition in this repertoire - especially
in the Rachmaninov - so whatever their public profile young artists
face a huge challenge. In his review
Brian Wilson lists some of the more familiar competitors. I’ve
chosen Vladimir Ashkenazy/Bernard Haitink and Valentina Lisitsa/Michael
Francis - both on Decca - as my comparative versions in the Rachmaninov;
for the Prokofiev I've selected Michel Béroff/Kurt Masur
(EMI/Warner).
Lisitsa’s Rachmaninov Third is one of the highlights of
her set (review).
Control of rhythm, phrasing and dynamics are exemplary, and the
London Symphony Orchestra are wonderful companions for the journey.
First impressions of Yuja Wang’s reading - snippets of which
I’d heard as a 24/96 download from Qobuz - are not unfavourable.
I was expecting an attention-seeking performance, perhaps even
an unremitting one, so the soft-grained Allegro came as
a pleasant surprise. For the most part I warmed to her playing,
even though it doesn’t have the suppleness - that elusive
give and take - that I so admire in Lisitsa’s recording.
The gap widens in the Intermezzo, which exposes imprecisions
in the orchestra; and for all her inwardness Yuja Wang never seems
quite at ease with this lovely, surging music. True, she is splendid
in its grander moments and she delights in the glitter, yet the
initial spell, hesitantly cast, is too easily broken. As for the
finale both soloist and orchestra are too precipitous and Dudamel’s
overheated tuttis are most unwelcome. DG’s recording is
nothing special either, even allowing for the exigencies of a
live concert; there’s not much depth here, and climaxes
are thin and fierce. By contrast the piano lacks focus in the
quieter, more reflective passages.
If you want a multi-layered modern recording of this concerto
that combines Romantic blush with judicious musicianship - not
to mention a top-notch recording - then Lisitsa is the one to
go for. The downside is that the latter’s performance is
only available as part of a two-disc set, not all of which is
entirely recommendable. That said, those who idolise Yuja Wang
won’t be deflected; the audience’s roar of approval
at the close says it all. Sadly the pleasures of Yuja Wang’s
Rachmaninov are just too intermittent. As far as old-school interpretations
go Earl Wild and Jascha Horenstein (Chandos) haven’t worn
too well, but Ashkenazy and Haitink are as fresh and compelling
as ever.
I’m very attached to the Béroff/Masur set of Prokofiev
concertos, not least for the anarchic gleam that suffuses so many
of those performances. Admittedly the sound is bright and forward,
but few rivals capture the tic and twitch of these St-Vitus-like
scores with such glee. The second concerto has long stretches
of cumulative virtuosity that Béroff handles with aplomb;
for all her dexterity Yuja Wang never quite balances the see-saw
of emotions - now mercurial, now melancholic - that the music
demands. Naked note-spinning simply isn’t enough, I’m
afraid. That said, the biggest turn-off is Dudamel’s grotesque
tuttis in the Scherzo. Nasty and disproportionate they
disfigure an already overblown performance.
I’m generally very well disposed towards Dudamel, yet all
too often his natural - and infectious - enthusiasm overpowers
his good judgment. The result is capricious - how ponderous the
start to the Intermezzo - and the aggressive recording
just compunds one’s sense of bewilderment and fatigue. Alas,
Yuja Wang throws herself into the finale, which sounds unpardonably
crude and incoherent. Showstopper it may be, but there’s
far more to this strange, penetrating score than these artists
would have us believe.
No amount of assiduous marketing or fetching cover shots will
persuade me that discs like these are a good proposition. Do they
broaden the appeal of classical music - a well-rehearsed hand-wringer
in this business - or do they simply feed the ravenous cult of
celebrity that flourishes via social media? I don’t know
the answer to either of those questions, but I do accept that
Yuja Wang is a very gifted pianist indeed. One can only hope that
her talent is sensibly directed rather than ruthlessly exploited;
then perhaps we’ll hear just how good she really is.
Decent Rachmaninov, misjudged Prokofiev; raw accompaniment and
recording.
Dan Morgan
http://twitter.com/mahlerei
Previous review: Brian
Wilson
Masterwork Index: Rachmaninov
piano concerto 3
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