Double trouble: Yuja Wang and Víkingur Ólafsson join forces

Yuja Wang and Víkingur Ólafsson

By Asher Rubenstein, 03 November 2024

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

“tilting dangerously on the verge of utter mayhem”

Reviewed at Royal Festival Hall, London on 1 November 2024

Berio, Six Encores for piano: Wasserklavier

Schubert, Fantasia for piano 4 hands in F minor, D.940

Cage, Experiences no. 1

Nancarrow, Player Piano Study no. 6 (arr. Thomas Adès)

Adams, Hallelujah Junction

Pärt, Hymn to a Great City

Rachmaninov, Symphonic Dances, Op.45

Brahms, Waltzes for Piano, Op.39 (nos.2,3 & 15)

Brahms, Hungarian Dance no. 1 in G minor

Tsfasman, Jazz Suite: Snowflakes (arr. Igor Tsygankov)

Schubert, Three Marches Militaires, D.733 (no.1)

Dvořák, Slavonic Dance no. 10 in E minor, Op.72 no.2

Yuja Wang, Piano

Víkingur Ólafsson, 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

More reviews...

Asher Rubenstein

Asher Rubenstein is a London-based pianist, studying Music at the University of Cambridge. He writes regularly for International Piano and volunteers at music festivals such as La Roque d’Anthéron. A devoted concertgoer and unapologetic pianophile, he’s on a mission to hear as many of the greats as time (and money) will allow. When absent from the concert hall, Asher can usually be found baking – and swimming to burn off his efforts.

Double trouble: Yuja Wang and Víkingur Ólafsson join forces in duo recital