The thing I’ve learned about hype is that not always, but sometimes, performers are raved about for good reason.
Such was the case with Yuja Wang, a dazzling piano virtuoso who not only plays with her entire body, but stands up to conduct the orchestra with broad, assertive gestures that echo modern dance, handling intricate passages with lightning-fast speed and clarity — all while wearing six-inch red-soled Louboutin heels.
She played with and led the Mahler Chamber Orchestra through last week’s UCSB Arts & Lectures program at the Granada. The program began with Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, op. 16, followed by Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1 in D Major, op. 25, and then Frederic Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, op. 11. These 19th- and 20th-century masterworks had a contemporary edge to them with the chamber orchestra’s excited energy and symphonic intensity making an excellent match for Wang’s glamorous drama. So much drama! And a fiery fervor you rarely associate with chamber orchestras. I found Wang’s jarring levels of animation, focus, and concentration absolutely mesmerizing.
As promised, Yuja Wang is definitely a rock star of a classical musician. But she wasn’t the only one I found quite engaging. Among others, principal cellist Frank-Michael Guthmann was fabulously animated throughout the performance, as was first violinist Matthew Truscott. The orchestra was anything but staid, and the audience was also dazzled by the evening’s show.
So much so that they performed four encores: Alexander Tsfasman’s Suite for Piano & Orchestra Mvts. 2 and 4; Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice arr. Sgambati; Philip Glass’s Étude No. 6; and Arturo Márquez’s Danzón No. 2 arr. Gómez-Tagle. It was definitely a night to remember.
