Zoë Madonna, Boston Globe
Fashion and encores are typically considered optional trimmings in classical performance, but for Yuja Wang, these things are as crucial a piece of a performance as the piano itself. At Jordan Hall on Friday night, the Chinese-born pianist transfixed with a solo recital that included four composers, two gleaming gowns (one long and trailing, the other short, skintight, and sequined) by Atelier Rosemarie Umetsu, five encores, too many standing ovations to count, and one fascinating glimpse into the processes that drive her.
From the moment she stepped onstage, it was clear she had come to impress. Wang made her name with vigorous performances of spectacular Russian repertoire, and such pieces made up the bulk of this recital, presented by Celebrity Series of Boston. In the first half’s selections from Rachmaninoff’s Preludes and Études-Tableaux and the second half’s rendition of Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 8 in B-flat major, she played on the vertex of an ever-tilting seesaw between manicured technical discipline and wild surges of energy.
Read more via the Boston Globe