The Vienna Recital

With her new album, Yuja Wang presents an astonishingly eclectic mix of repertoire, ranging from from the early Classicism of Gluck to the improvisatory jazz piano of Kapustin, via music by Albéniz, Beethoven, Glass, Scriabin and more. As can be heard her album, Yuja displays an effortless ease in switching between different eras and genres. Reviewing the recital Yuja had given in London with the same repertoire, Bachtrack noted that its “unpredictability added to [the] palpable excitement in a packed Royal Festival Hall”. Despite, or perhaps because of its eclecticism, this is unquestionably a programme with its own life, ebbing and flowing and creating a cohesive whole from its seemingly disparate musical elements. Seemingly disparate musical elements come together to form a coherent whole - with "Málaga" and "Lavapiés" by Albéniz, Scriabin's Third Piano Sonata, the Jazz Preludes by Kapustin, Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 18 in E flat major and the Études No. 6 and No. 13 by Ligeti. And Yuja ends the album with breathtaking encores: Étude No. 6 by Philip Glass, Danzón No. 2 by Arturo Márquez in a transcription for solo piano, Brahms' Intermezzo in C sharp minor, Op. 117 No. 3 and "Reigen seliger Geister" from Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice, arranged for solo piano by Giovanni Sgambati under the title Melodie.

Tracklist:

ISAAC ALBÉNIZ (1860–1909)
Málaga from Iberia

ALEXANDER SCRIABIN (1872–1915)
Piano Sonata No. 3 in F sharp minor op. 23
1. Drammatico
2. Allegretto
3. Andante
4. Presto con fuoco

NIKOLAI KAPUSTIN (1937–2020)
Prelude No. 11
Prelude No. 10
from 24 Jazz Preludes op. 53

ISAAC ALBÉNIZ
Lavapiés from Iberia

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827)
Piano Sonata No. 18 in E flat major “The Hunt” op. 31/3
1. Allegro
2. Scherzo. Allegretto vivace
3. Menuetto. Moderato e grazioso
4. Presto con fuoco

GYÖRGY LIGETI (1923–2006)
Étude No. 6: Automne à Varsovie
Étude No. 13: L’escalier du diable

PHILIP GLASS (*1937)
Étude No. 6

ARTURO MÁRQUEZ (*1950)
Danzón No. 2
trans. for piano by Leticia Gómez-Tagle

JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833–1897)
Intermezzo in C sharp minor op. 117/3

CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK (1714–1787)
Melodie dell’Orfeo
arr. for piano by Giovanni Sgambati