New York Concert Review

By Rorianne Schrade

Xiayin Wang, piano

Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall

March 31, 2008

Xiayin Wang is a pianist with excellent technique, stamina, coloristic gifts and a winsome stage presence; her biggest challenge ahead may be finding time for reflection despite an accelerating career.  In a program ranging from Scarlatti to a world premiere, Ms. Wang's recent Zankel hall recital might have benefited from reflection as well, though it had much to admire.

Bach-Busoni's Chaconne in D Minor opened with the evening's least powerful interpretation.  Though technically sure and often dramatic; each variation needed strong metric and dynamic relationships to the next, and also to Bach's monumental violin work.  Though pianists question whether to be more Bach or Busoni, the work in either case needs to be built "brick by brick" to achieve its overarching magnificence; otherwise, it is not the cathedral to which it is often likened, but a luxury hotel with rooms that are lovely but disjunct.

Prokofiev's "Sarcasms", Op. 17, next, were all that they should be:  bitting, witty, and imaginatively colored.  Ms. Wang used the somewhat glassy upper register of the piano to good advantage, shading the movements expertly.  Equally persuasive were three Sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, the E Major, K. 380, showing contrast and precision, while the D Major, K. 96, enjoyed a bright sound and vivid cross-rhythms.  Wang's excellent repeated-note technique easily tamed the Sonata in D Minor K. 141, the infamous Toccata.

Concluding the first half, Scriabin's Fantasy in B Minor, Op. 28, was delivered passionately and effusively.  A difficult piece to bring off, it fared better in Ms. Wang's hands than in other performances heard this season.  She savored its rich harmonies, projecting its musical gestures with high romanticism.  Wang reveled equally in Chopin's Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat Major, Op. 61 though occasionally the drive towards downbeats caused excessive dispatch. 

A world premiere followed, Marc Chan's 2008 work, "My Wounded Head" (dreams of moths).  Based on a sequence of Bach, the work's two sections offer an intriguing study in contrasts, from bright registral leaps to quiet sustained chord tremolos, the latter section voiced imaginatively by this pianist.  In an ingenious seque, Ravel's "La Valse" followed, emerging from its own bass tremolos into an unbridled waltz.  Though starting a bit stiffly, it worked up a frenzy that found Wang casting caution to the winds.  If many notes were lost along the way, it was a refreshing sign of uninhibited involvement.  The enthusiastic audience enjoyed the Gershwin-Wild transcription, "The Man I Love," as an encore.