Schumann Archives - ROVING PIANIST

Stephanie Tang at Core Memory Music

Wednesday, August 17th, 2022 by Ken Leave a Comment

Stephanie Tang in Rhode Island, August 2022

Stephanie Tang

On Saturday August 13th, 2022, I visited Craig Maynard’s Core Memory Music venue in Rhode Island to see London-based Chinese-American pianist Stephanie Tang.

Some pianists (Roving Pianist included) prefer to isolate prior to performing. But Ms. Tang’s innate confidence allowed her to mingle with ease, describing her program and fielding questions from us during the pre-concert discussion.

Thus, when she took her seat at the 9-foot Steinway concert grand, the audience had already warmed to her.

Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonata in F major K.445

Domenico Scarlatti’s K.445 Keyboard Sonata in F major is, well, very Scarlatti. Of the 500+ sonatas that he wrote, it is fairly typical. Rippling, twirling runs leap between the pianist’s hands, framed by recurring left-hand punctuation.

This piano was well-suited to Scarlatti. The low end was clean, reminiscent perhaps of Beethoven’s time, although more powerful. And Stephanie used the lightest pedal, ensuring that the brightness of the instrument did not blur her nimble fingerwork.

Stephanie after Beethoven

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major, Op. 10 No. 2

Ms. Tang described this early Beethoven work as humorous and cheeky. And throughout her performance, her appropriately theatrical facial expressions were priceless.

We are not accustomed to thinking of Beethoven as entertainment, but under Ms. Tang’s hands this overtly mundane Sonata was in fact a lot of fun.

To judge by her expression afterwards, she enjoyed it at least as much as her audience did.

Stephanie Tang plays Chopin in Rhode Island

Stephanie playing Chopin

Chopin: Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat major, Op. 61

Stephanie guided the audience through Scarlatti and Beethoven, but everything changed when she transitioned to Chopin. The artist was a different pianist for Chopin, becoming the medium instead of the message.

Chopin spoke directly to us through Ms. Tang, making for an enchanting performance. Her pacing was so naturally fluid that the concept of rubato seems unnecessary.

In the moments of silence after the last notes, I felt the entire audience sigh.

Schubert: Four Impromptus, D. 899

After such sublime Chopin, anything else would seem anticlimactic. Ms. Tang solved this by closing with Schubert Impromptu’s.

These mostly well-known concert pieces are quintessential Schubert: lavishly romantic and with sufficient drama to support some entertaining pianistic flair.

Ms. Tang’s flair was to throw in keyboard theatrics. Most notably she pulled the “Lang Lang Whip”, a shamelessly flashy gesture where the pianist whips her left arm down and away from the keyboard. Now I can call it the Lang Tang Whip.

Encore: Schumann Davidsbündlertänze Op. 6 No. 2 Innig

The concert closed with this very short, serene work by Schumann.

Stephanie Tang in Rhode Island

Meeting Stephanie

The glue that made this event special was not the venue, the piano or the music. It was Stephanie Tang herself. Friendly and at ease with her audience, she was generous with her time and fun to be around.

This hard-working, multi-faceted pianist has a busy calendar and a bright future.

Closing Thoughts

Core Memory Music is Craig Maynard’s labor of love. Concerts take place at his solar-powered home which contains a casual, high-ceiling performance space with excellent acoustics and comfortable seating.

The piano is a full-sized C&A Steinway D (see What is a Steinway C&A piano). It has glittering silver pins, a translucent upper mid-range and sonorous bottom octaves that excel as pedal notes in e.g. Bach/Liszt Prelude and Fugue in A minor BWV 543.

I share these details because Core Memory Music is a piano-lover’s paradise. Craig recruits excellent young musicians from Yale, Boston and now from the Concert Artists’ Guild. This was the third concert here that Roving Pianist has attended, and it won’t be the last. See https://corememorymusic.com/ for information about upcoming events.

Pianist Wynona Wang Will Make You Smile

Sunday, November 7th, 2021 by Ken Leave a Comment

Wynona Yinuo Wang

On November 6th 2021, pianist Yinuo (Wynona) Wang entered the Shoemaker Salon with a light step and a radiant smile. A Juillard student with promising credentials, she seemed energized by this intimate setting.

Mozart: Sonata No. 13 in B-Flat Major K 333

This sonata opens with a charming allegro, crisply articulated by Ms. Wang. In subsequent movements Wynona surprised us with her lyrical flair and Beethoven-sized passion. Her Mozart appetizer became part of the main course, and we loved it.

Rachmaninoff: Prelude in F-Sharp Minor Op. 23 No. 1

The dark, F-Sharp Minor Prelude’s drifting melody and textured chromatic waves tug at our deepest emotions. In a scant few minutes, Ms. Wang’s heartfelt performance filled the salon with somber and yet ethereal yearning.

Rachmaninoff: Daisies Op. 38 No. 2

Rachmaninoff wrote his Daises song in Russia in 1916. Later, after moving to America to escape the Russian Revolution, he transcribed it for piano. In Ms. Wang’s program, Daises served as a breathing space between his massive preludes.

Rachmaninoff: Prelude in B Minor Op. 32 No. 10

Ms. Wang told us that this prelude (inspired by 1887 painting The Homecoming) was Rachmaninoff’s favorite. And it is also a Roving Pianist favorite. This quintessentially Russian work is among Rachmaninoff’s most satisfying, and Wynona Wang’s performance was moving and authentic. I loved how she stretched the harmonics of the Steinway’s deep bass in the closing moments.

Rachmaninoff: Prelude in G-Flat Major Op. 23 No. 10

The G-flat Prelude is gentle and luxuriously atmospheric. Wynona’s nuanced dynamics and clarity of voicing created some of the most sublime moments of the evening. As one guest commented afterwards, everyone in the room was connected through the spiritual beauty of Ms. Wang’s interpretation.

Rachmaninoff: Études-Tableaux Op. 39 Nos. 8 and 9

These are not my favorite Études-Tableaux, but they were well-executed. The first (Op. 39 No. 8 in D Minor) was a rolling, deliriously ecstatic clangor. The second (Op. 39 No. 9 in D Major) felt somewhat cluttered.

Schumann: Sonata No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor Op. 11

Wynona Wang owned Schumann’s sonata from its opening motifs, through romantic interludes, fugue-like diversions and seemingly endless clattering repetitions. While Schumann can feel clumsy in the wrong hands, Ms. Wang’s artful presentation showcased this lengthy, challenging Sonata at its best.

Meeting Wynona

At the piano, Wynona Wang vanished into her performance. But in person, Wynona Wang was engagingly present and effusive. She knows that she’s good, and basked happily in our admiration. In a few years, we could be standing in line for her autograph.

Wynona with host Robin

Winona Yinuo Wang NYC 2021

Wynona with the Author

Pianist Yun Janice Lu in Rhode Island

Wednesday, January 8th, 2020 by Ken Leave a Comment

Yun Janice Lu, by Craig Maynard

Yun Janice Lu

On January 4th, 2020, I visited Craig Maynard’s Core Memory venue in South Kingston, Rhode Island for a recital by pianist Yun Janice Lu.

Born in Taiwan, Ms. Lu is currently a postgraduate music student at Yale University. I had never seen her play, but Core Memory hosts excellent artists so I had high expectations.

Shortly before the recital began, I noticed a young woman sitting nearby, reading sheet music on an iPad. It took me a few moments to recognize our soloist, sitting with her audience while preparing.

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 24 in F Sharp Major Op. 78

Yun Janice Lu opened with Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 24 Op. 78, one of his shortest. (Sir Andras Schiff gave an excellent lecture about this work.)

She played an abbreviated version of the first movement, so the entire sonata lasted less than 8 minutes. It was a good introduction to Ms. Lu’s low-key, immersive approach. From the serene opening of the Adagio to the flirty call-response phrasing of the Allegro vivace, her Beethoven was fluid and convincing.

Yun Janice Lu playing Prokofiev

Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 7 in B Flat Major Op. 83

The jagged dissonance of Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 7 was in striking contrast to Beethoven’s harmonious sonata, taking us across time from the Napoleonic wars to World War 2.

Ms. Lu appeared to relish Prokofiev’s edgy rhythms, at times rising from the bench with her hair flying. It was a striking performance that mesmerized the audience. Afterwards, someone commented that her fingers must be glowing.

Despite the virtuosity that Prokofiev demands, Janice most impressed me in the opening of the second movement. Here, Prokofiev sets aside his personal idiom and borrows a progression from Schumann’s “Wehmut”, composed a century earlier. This was rendered with haunting beauty by Ms. Lu, as you can hear in the following audio snippet.

Schumann: Kreisleriana Op. 16

Yun Janice Lu at Core Memory, Rhode Island

There was a lot to like in Yun Janice Lu’s Kreisleriana. My favorite part was the second movement (“Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch”), which contains one of Schumann’s most beautiful melodies.

Here Ms. Lu’s graceful phrasing and artful pedal painted Schumann’s intertwining voices on a rapturous canvas of harmonics that seemed to rise over us.

Encore: Ravel Jeux d’Eau

Watching Ms. Lu’s nimble performance of Ravel’s melodious work, it seemed that she really liked it. At least once, a hint of a smile crossed her face. And a couple of times Ravel really got her bicycling (see Closing Thoughts).

Encore: Debussy Etude No. 11

New to me, Debussy’s Etude No. 11 was full of `sound-alike moments reflecting rhythms and harmonies from his other compositions. Like the preceding Ravel, Ms. Lu seemed to have a special affinity for this work and gave an evocative performance, full of impressionist sparkle.

Closing Thoughts

I greatly enjoyed our time with Yun Janice Lu. Sociable and at ease in the spotlight, she is not the kind of pianist to swagger at the keyboard or cue her audience on what to feel. Her performance had an unforced, natural flow, and she had a way of making everything look easy.

The only expressive flair that I noticed from Janice was her “bicycle”, which seemed to come out mostly during musical peaks. You can see it in the following snippet from her Beethoven.