| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 19-May-2013 Chicago Symphony Center | Hamelin, the technician, at Chicago Symphony Center |
 Anyone who knows the name Marc-André Hamelin will know him foremost for his technique. It is, to use a crude expression, what his brand is built upon. He is known to be able to handily dispatch the most taxing pieces in both the modern repertoire and the warhorse cabinet, the latter of which furnished much of his recent program at Symphony Center in Chicago – Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit and Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Sonata, for a start. Yet the fact of his technique obscures its place – in fact, its obscuring place – in his musicianship.
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| 16-May-2013 Carnegie Hall: Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage | Rhythm in heels: Yuja Wang at Carnegie Hall |
 Yuja Wang is all about rhythm. It would be easy to write about how her playing doesn’t have the profundity or architectural sense of more mature artists, but that would be to miss her considerable achievements – and with a young artist, it’s what’s achieved that should count. Jaw-dropping technical skill is unexceptional among pianists of Wang’s age, especially others in the first rank like Benjamin Grosvenor, Daniil Trifonov, and Khatia Buniatishvili.Read full review... | |
| 9-May-2013 Bridgewater Hall | The Rite of Spring with the BBC Philharmonic and Juanjo Mena |
 Juanjo Mena concluded his season-long exploration of Stravinsky ballets with a sharp account of the most famous, The Rite of Spring, as part of a programme of unusually grand proportions.
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| 26-Apr-2013 Walt Disney Concert Hall | Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Lionel Bringuier with the LA Philharmonic in Saint-Säens and Ravel |
 It was the golden jubilee of Saint-Säens as a concert pianist, and in celebration he performed his crowning glory, the Piano Concerto no. 5 in F, “Egyptian”, which he composed while on tour in Luxor, incorporating exotic Middle Eastern melodies and rhythms. The concerto is not known to be given over to excessive fin de siècle romanticism, and whatever there was Jean-Yves Thibaudet certainly didn’t overindulge in.Read full review... | |
