I’m an 81 year-old jazz pianist and composer and in all my years in music, I’ve never heard a performance of the cadenza in the 1st movement played so brilliantly! Simply astounding! Simply put, in my humble opinion, Yuja Wang is a genius with not only astounding technique but she is sensitive and emotional in passages of any work-not just this one! Incredible artist!
She gives a superb account of this fiercely challenging work. Having said that I recall attending a live performance of this concerto given by a young Ashkenazy during the mid 1960s in London, his mastery was simply awesome. In my opinion this performance by Yuga Wang is equally stunning.
I wish classical crowds would give the full throated roar of a heavy metal crowd after a performance like that. Polite applause and the odd "Bravo" always seems so insulting.
This is one of the finest recordings of Prokofiev 2 I have listened to. She brought out some phrasing that I had not heard before and while this is quite a technical piece with fireworks gymnastics it is also terrifically musical. Ms. Yang brought new dimensions that are appreciated. jmho.Bravo!
At 10:20 a brilliant orchestration. The frantic strings and solid brass. Yuja is always the same, hyper-speed of interpretation and perfect clarity of notes.
I have heard Yuja perform this concerto at least a dozen times, and they were all wonderful. But this performance is so phenomenally inspired, that it leaves me speechless. Absolutely stunning. ❤
Amazing performance. Thank you to all musicians. You guys make earth more beautiful. Thank you to Yuja Wang. What a wonderful display of virtuosity. Bravo 🎉🎉🎉
Frighteningly brilliant & beautiful at the same time! Yujas’ interpretation, feeling and virtuosity quite out of this world! Orchestra & conductor not too bad either!! 🙏🙏❤️
Beautiful performance! .. Yuja can play anything with her "Magical Fingers...... Such a moving piece... Great orchestra as well... Thanks for posting. 🙏😄
I'm 71, Prok to me is Prokofiev, The Destroyer, he mutates classical forms every chance he gets. The result is exquisite since the connection with the original form is still apparent. Those that followed wanted nothing of that connection - it's chaos I say! just rearranging Prok's rubble! Prok's convolution of repeated patterns is diabolical to memorize and play - it defies muscle memory.
I think Prokofiev understood the pianoforte better than anyone. Its percussive nature, dynamic limitations, dynamic possibilities, peculiar mechanics, and so on. He seems to be alone in this regard. Where other composers seem to compose music that can be played on a piano, Prokofiev composed with the piano’s limitations and possibilities first and foremost in mind.
Simply wonderful! This concert has a dense and stormy atmosphere that the great pianist Yuja Wang interprets with energy and total control of emotions.
I discovered classical music a few years ago after a lifetime of being a jazz, rock, world music fan. Then I found Yuja Wang. I have never heard anything this beautiful, majestic and engaging in my life. What an extraordinary, beyond human talent. I cannot get enough. Thank you, Ms. Wang.
From heaven down to the face of this planet into our hearts, such an art endeavor enhancing us back to heaven, perfect circle, the leading star: Yuja Wang💫💫💫
Should have made the room cooler, everyone on stage is sweating. Yuja gets completely drenched😅, towards the end you could see sweat constantly dripping off her chin and wet hair
This was one of the best renditions of the piano concerto with the most difficult cadenza. Some years later together with Berliner Philharmoniker under the baton of Paavo Järvi she played it even better...this one is by far the best rendition ever. ❤❤❤
I agree-I have all her renditions (at least I think so!🙃 The ones with Charles Dutoit are also good.SO is the Paavo rendition but the LA audio rendition is overwhelming-(a pity it is not with video).Each of these has a "best" part . This one shows the prchestral members-including the conductor- enjoying it-not merely playing their part. And what lovely dress.
What is the score doing in/on the piano at 12:50? I wasn't there at the start of the 2nd.movement. Also the color grading of that particular moment is different from the rest of the video. Explain genius.
@@thepianocornertpc There were three concerts during this set in Zürich. 10, 11, and 13 September 2014. One was obviously videoed and a second was probably covered with video cameras as backup. The video editor probably grabbed a wide shot from the backup video at that moment, and it looks like Yuja had a score on the piano during that concert. Note that in all wide shots without the score with the piano's single leg showing, there is an electrical cable behind the wheel. In the shot with the score on the piano, there is no wire behind the wheel. It was obviously a shot from a different concert from this set, or from a short pre-concert rehearsal.
Magnificent Wang! Tell me that this woman is not an athlete! She has the body of a gymnast and the heart of an artist and combines those traits to perform keyboard gymnastics!
Yuja Wang goes beast mode with the cadenza. It’s absolutely terrifying, exhilarating, and beautiful. Jaw-dropping. I wonder whether they needed to rebuild the piano after that. Of course, the rest of the performance was superb, too.
That 1st. movt. cadenza! Yuja Wang is from another planet. Sheer technical brilliance. The whole concerto is Prokofiev after he's taken his insanity steroids. ( and i mean that in a positive way). What an absolutely amazing composition. Prokofiev has to be one of the all time greats of the 20th Century.
this is the first time i listened to prokofiev concerto my way of poor worthless naive composing will change after this i think (i wrote this because if some day i became someone who can compose something unworthless maybe ill see this comment again and remember the first time i heard prokofievs concerto)
This was my first time hearing/watching this concerto. What an astounding and demanding piece of work for anybody to play as a soloist, and with such a disciplined and willing orchestra. The conductor worked with great sensitivity, and Ms. Wang was stellar. It is also great fun to watch her face play the part as her fingers travel over the keys.
Having studied pianists playing over 180 piano concertos I must say I am stunned and absolutely struck by the complexity and insane variety within this 32 minutes of otherworldly intensity and challenge. Both Sergei Prokofiev and Yuja Wang are at the top in their respective positions in the music world. If I was cast to a desert island I would only need this one recording to get me through ! !
This has to be my favorite interpretation of this extremely difficult concerto. Phenomenal technique and majestic virtuosity! Thank you so very much for this splendid performance.
Of course the performance here is superb, remarkable. Yuja Wang is the master of this fiendish concerto, and the orchestra is wonderful as well. But the technical quality of this video also deserves mention. The sound is great, and the photography -- let's call it cinematography! -- is beautiful. No doubt Prokofiev is enjoying the show.
Qu'on ne me dise pas que ce n'est pas physique de jouer ce concerto! On voit qu'au moment de saluer, elle est quasi-épuisée! Quelle maestria! mille bravos!
Even as powerful as she is, after finishing this piece, she looked stressful and exhausted.... that's a sign of how technically impossible for human being this piano piece is. Marvelous!
it's really hard for me to understand Prokofiev, there are some harmonies that do not resonate with me. if someone had something to say to introduce me to this composer it would be much appreciated
My pleasure - I think I should say first that much of the genius of Prokofiev is in those harmonies that don't resonate with us. They never seem to fully resonate no matter how much we listen but they give the music an edge that can be more satisfying than less dissonant music. I've generally found the following movements and pieces to be accessible for new listeners; the recordings on youtube are top quality: 1. Scherzo from Piano Sonata #2 (Gary Graffman) 2. Symphony #1 (Claudio Abbado) 3. Third movement of Piano Sonata #4 (Nikolai Lugansky) 4. Piano Concerto #1 (Yuja Wang) 5. Third movement of Piano Sonata #7 (Yuja Wang) 6. Piano Sonata #3 (Martha Argerich) 7. Violin Concerto #2 (Janine Jansen) Hope you enjoy...Prokofiev rocks
To add onto @AinSoph73, Prokofiev’s ballets are what really got me into his music, and in my opinion are a lot less dissonant but still have the Prokofiev vibe that makes all of his music special to me. Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella are the most famous probably and my favorite.
@@AinSoph73thanks to you and @maaikedam4909 I'm starting to slowly appreciate his works, especially this concerto to which I'm particularly paying attention. for now, I'm still not as fond of this as I am to my beloved Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Beethoven and many others, but I think it will take some time. I'll also try to play some of his music, as a classical pianist
T-H-E PIANO QUEEN 🎹👑🥇🏆❤️💯 Y-U-J-A W-A-N-G AND T-H-E " GODDESS HANDS " OF Y-U-J-A W-A-N-G...🎹👑🥇🏆❤️💯 MAXIMUM RESPECT... MAXIMUM HIGH ARTISTIC TECHNIQUE PLAYING STYLE MAXIMUM SUPER ACCURATE MAX+SPEED...AND.. MAXIMUM R-E-A-L-L-Y, ORIGINAL, PURE , HARMONIOUS + SWEET M-E-L-O-D-Y THERE IS NO EQUAL.... NO ONE LIKE YOU...🎹👑💯❤️🥇🏆✌️🙏🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Yuja, eres simplemente un portento musical, de una calidad interpretativa excelsa, combinas una técnica perfecta con una intuición musical que te acerca magistralmente a la intención y el discurso musical del autor de este concierto maravilloso!
Да, техника, конечно потрясающая, из ряда вон выходящая, наконец этот концерт достойно исполнен во всём блеске. Но как была сыграна самая первая тема! Вот где гений этой пианистки. Действительно, и поразительный пианизм но и духовная зрелость и попадание в точку.
YUJA'S SPUMANTE GLITTERING BEADS OF PERSPIRATION-SO BEAUTIFUL YET SCARY.... IT MAKES A SOUL ALMOST SCREAM OUT YOU NEEDN'T DIE TO EXPEND YOURSELF INTO A FRENZY SO OFTEN!!!!! TOO EXCELLENT TO DIE YOUNG AT THE KEYBOARD.......
I keep coming to listen this concert once more time. I really think Yuja Wang is out of this world! Her musicality and skills on the piano are astonishing! Of course she had to work a lot and had to has lot of descipline but her capacites as an individual are not common. ❤
Da sind ja wieder schon die ersten 2 Holzbläsertöne nicht zusammen - kein Wunder bei dem Nicht-Auftakt. Warum nicht mal mit einem vernünftigen Dirigenten?
Is it me, but does anyone hear fragments of No. 3 throughout? In many cases just 2 notes in the same context? No. 3 is just so iconic with it's sounds and themes.
