Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times
Yuja, Mirga, Mahler, Lenny, Louis, Luis and more. A year of the naked, the dead and the saved. The young and old and forgotten. A year in which 10 won’t do …
Yuja: Chinese pianist Yuja Wang had two milestones in her 30th year. She played her first performance of Beethoven’s mighty “Hammerklavier” Sonata impressively in Santa Barbara; she also made her Salzburg Festival debut in Austria, exquisitely joining baritone Matthias Goerne in Brahms’ “Die Schöne Magelone” song cycle. Along the way she nailed “Rhapsody in Blue” with Dudamel at the Hollywood Bowl like few others have.