Introducing Xiayin Wang (2007)

Yiayin Wang is a young pianist who hails from China and has graduated from Shanghai Conservatory; she has lived in the United States since 1997. Marquis Classics' Introducing Xiayin Wang is her debut disc, and her program is an ambitious mix of Bach, Mozart, Ravel, Scriabin, and George Gershwin, essentially combining composers from opposite ends of the piano spectrum and sidestepping romantic literature. Likewise, the opposite ends of the disc contain the best stuff, the Bach and two pieces taken from Gershwin's slim output ... Read More

Yiayin Wang is a young pianist who hails from China and has graduated from Shanghai Conservatory; she has lived in the United States since 1997. Marquis Classics' Introducing Xiayin Wang is her debut disc, and her program is an ambitious mix of Bach, Mozart, Ravel, Scriabin, and George Gershwin, essentially combining composers from opposite ends of the piano spectrum and sidestepping romantic literature. Likewise, the opposite ends of the disc contain the best stuff, the Bach and two pieces taken from Gershwin's slim output for solo piano -- "I Got Rhythm" from his neglected Song Book volume and the first of the Three Preludes. It's a shame that we couldn't have gotten the other two, as they would have fit on the disc, but "leave them wanting more" seems to be the operative idea in this case.Wang's Bach is superb -- she really makes the Adagio in this solo concerto, adapted from Benedetto Marcello, sing. The Mozart is a little less so; while her playing of the familiar K. 330 Sonata in C major is... Read Less