"It's nice to have two cultures in one person." Biggest influence: her teacher back in China. Mom's a dancer, dad a percussionist. Femenine, pretty, well adjusted, happy. What a blessing.
Gary Graffman taught Lang Lang for close to five years, and also taught Yuja Wang for six years. Both pianists have helped to inspire young children in China and other countries to learn to play the piano. Music is a lifetime endeavor, and one can still enjoy playing the piano in their golden years.
She is almost certainly talking about the Prokofiev Second Concerto, which is kind of a specialty of hers, and which she first played about the time of this interview. There are several versions of her playing it on RU-vid, She is the first pianist I have ever heard who does not slow down (she actually speeds up!) during the huge cadenza in the first movement.
LOL out of all the chinese people that were born in China and lived in america since they were 15, she is the best person that I know who can speak english.
She's probably talking about Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 3, because she said somewhere it was "Most difficult piece in piano literature, for piano concerto genre". She also was talking about how she wasn't able to spread her hands (something it's also notorious for) and lots of jumping (like in the cadenza). I might be wrong though!
its not rachmaninov con 3 she doesnt play that on the internet. its prokofievs concerto 2 in g minor. theres a great version on the side bar. thats the piece thats renound for bein difficult even more than the rach 3.
Yessir! (maam). Though Rach 3 has been given this romantic image of being the holy grail of concerti (which no doubt it is amazingly difficult and soooooooo lush and beautiful), all in all, I agree that it still doesn't hold a flame to Prok 2. Prokofiev really pushed the boundaries of tonality and technicality. I tried sight reading through it...let's just say it wasn't a pretty sight XD. Cheers.
Poor interview. The interviewer is interruptive and fails to consider listeners. Eg. She talks about the notoriously difficult piece but fails to inform us of the name of the composer or the piece.
Can anyone tell me what she says at around 5:15 ". . .the most difficult piece in the piano literature for a piano ?????????" What is the most difficult piece? I think she is referring to the Rachmaninoff 3rd, but not sure. I don't see how pianists with small hands can play this piece unless they roll everything.
Sorry. I notice many people spell her name like this. When I first seen her a while back all I seen was Yujia. So I kinda got it stuck in my head. I guess she uses Yuja. Seeing as her website is Yuja not yujia. Sorry HWSUNG for that.
did not knew that.. thanks for enlightening me . so why then do they write it differently in english (on the covers of her albums for exa.)? i write my name same way in Hebrew and in English...
I confess that it's not possible to hear her play Rachmaninoff without being carried along and swept away. I've been told that I have "perfect pitch"(I oncesang with the a capella "Chapel Choir" at Capital University as a youth) and I never heard her make a mistake, either. So hope I don't sound extreme whenI say I'd wear her finger nail clippings in a "good luck locket" --- if that wouldn't offend! Yuja, look for me in heaven if we both get there (we'll share an expresso parfait --- and "talk the feather off a circus pony"--- there's all the time in the world there! The earth is about a thousand miles below---for HEAVEN is really just "God's Barn". How do I know that? Jesus himself said so (Matthew 13:30, 35) plus God showed that it's true (believe it or not, it's a storehouse for good souls). Psalm 118 is mine --- believe it or not. And I once survived getting hi by a car and knocked 62 feet, suffered 14 broken bones [both lower legs, 3 ribs, upper rt. humerus, shattered tibia/fuibula both legs] and I drove truck in the Arabian desert for a 2-star General in the Jordanian military for eight years AFTER that accident in Germany. I recovered completely (my dad was a Christian pastor, my mom a church organist and intellectual) and the U.S. Army Dr. who first treated me said "I though you were a dead man when I first laid eyes on you --- you need to thank God because you will recover completely, if all these bones heal --- it was a miracle. I gave the entire "Schmerzengeld" from the insurance company to the Catholic Church in Bad Aibling, Germany ---- for distribution of free bibles there. Had the Germans known there Bibkes, they never would have began to persecute the "people of Jesus" ---- would they?
@triplecross123 Not really! Lang speaks english with strong chinese accent, and Yuja speaks much better english. you need to consider when she got to US, she was already 15. if put you to somewhere for only 6 years can you speak perfect local language?
"the way I think about music and stuff is very.. SEXUAL, huh?" (4:01) Is this what she actually sayd or I'm dreaming? I hope it's actually what she said, it would really make my day!
I liked her before but not now, her playing is very technical, showing the speed, creating a atomosphere very stressful, as the busy world we are living. Mozart said" the music is not the notes, but in the silence between". In her playing "the beauty of silence " is very absent. Our time is very good but not great enough for a great pianist born.
Surely Yujia and Yuja have pretty much the same pronunciation and in any case both are just a western approximation of her real Chinese name - neither is wrong, neither right.
Yup she never cared about her appearance, that makes her even more attractive. Though I wonder what she did last night she clearly haven't had enough time to sleep
