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Yuja Wang and Víkingur Ólafsson kicked off their US tour with this recital of works for two pianos. Both Steinways, lids off, were lined up center-stage, the players sitting side by side but facing opposite directions. The carefully curated program included four exquisitely delicate miniatures, the first being Luciano Berio’s
Wasserklavier
. Taking on the
primo
part, Wang softly caressed the keys in the nearly inaudible opening. With its floaty atmosphere reminiscent of Debussy, the piece made a charming lead-in to a commanding account of Schubert’s F-minor Fantasia. Wang and Ólafsson’s dynamically nuanced interpretation vividly conveyed the piece’s wide emotional arc, smoothly transitioning from feelings of poignant melancholy to outbursts of passion to more playful passages and culminating in a brisk, tightly woven fugue.
Two contrasting pieces followed. John Cage’s Experiences No.1 offered a haven of tranquility before Thomas Adès’s two-piano transcription of Conlon Nancarrow’s captivating Study No.6. Originally composed for player piano, replete with complex rhythms and dizzying tempo shifts, Ólafsson maintained the constantly shifting tango-like ostinato while Wang’s freewheeling jazzy melodic line danced above it.
The most exciting part was a spectacular rendition of John Adams’s post-minimalist Hallelujah Junction. Displaying uncanny precision and athleticism, the pianists delivered the varied and colorful music with enormous energy and flair. Ólafsson launched into the opening at a blistering tempo, and the relentless drive barely let up over the next 15 minutes, as the melody passed from one keyboard to another at vertigo-inducing speed, with their interlocking rhythms kicking into the highest possible gear in the final moments.
Moments of breathtaking quiet returned after intermission with Arvo Pärt’s Hymn to a Great City, sparsely textured, hypnotically repetitive music played with refined sensitivity, successfully capturing its contemplative character and tintinnabular style before moving on to Rachmaninov’s three-movement Symphonic Dances given a dazzling virtuoso performance, bringing out all the color and flair of the inspired and tuneful writing. Most delightful of all was their devilish rendition of the sinuous
Tempo de valse.
There were several encores, all played on one piano – including Brahms’s Waltzes in E & G-sharp minor, Opp.39/2&3 and a Hungarian Dance; together with Dvořák’s Slavonic Dance in E-minor, Op.72/2, and Schubert’s
Marche militaire
in D, D733/1, delivered with appropriate aplomb.
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