Effortless technique and enormous musicality

By Edward Sava-Segal, 10 February 2017

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Reviewed at Lincoln Center: Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall, New York City on 8 February 2017

Janáček, Violin Sonata

Schubert, Fantasy for violin and piano in C major, D.934

Debussy, Violin Sonata in G minor

Bartók, Violin Sonata no. 1, Sz. 75

Leonidas Kavakos, Violin

Yuja Wang, Piano

Shock, spectacle and endurance: Yuja Wang and Thomas Adès at full tilt

Laurence Vittes, 8th February

If Prokofiev’s original intention in his Second Piano Concerto was shock and awe, Yuja Wang gives exactly the right performance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

***11

Thomas Adès and Yuja Wang offer contemporary works at the NY Phil

Sam Jacobson, 23rd January

Yuja Wang returns to the New York Philharmonic with Rautavaara’s dazzling First Piano Concerto in a probing program curated and conducted by Thomas Adès.

****1

Yuja Wang serves an iridescent musical feast in Cleveland

Sam Jacobson, 28th November

Yuja Wang does double duty in demanding piano concertos by Ravel and Ligeti, while conductor Petr Popelka shows his chemistry with the orchestra in Pictures at an Exhibition.

****1

Contemporary works populate Philadelphia Orchestra's opening night

Cameron Kelsall, 25th September

Audiences drawn in by Yuja Wang's performance of the Ravel Piano Concerto are also treated to Julia Wolfe and Arturo Márquez.

****1

Stormy weather: a wild ride with Berlioz and Yuja Wang at Tanglewood

Kevin Wells, 20th July

Yuja Wang’s verve and panache, combined with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra’s fearless, youthful energy, forge an incandescent, explosive performance.

****1

White Nights and historic firsts: Gražinytė-Tyla and the Vienna Phil

Chanda VanderHart, 6th May

For the first time in its 165-year subscription series, a female conductor leads a Vienna Philharmonic subscription concert.

****1

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Edward Sava-Segal

Edward has been living in New York for the last 25 years, one of the reasons being the extraordinarily rich cultural life in this city. He has studied piano and classical music in his early years. He switched later on to computer science and data architecture but he kept an unwavering interest in following the classical music phenomenon here in New York and in his travels. Edward occasionally reviews fine arts events for the most prestigious literary magazine in Romania, his home country.

Leonidas Kavakos and Yuja Wang: Effortless technique and enormous musicality