Tchaikovsky & Khachaturian: Piano Concertos Xiayin Wang, Royal Scottish National Orchestra & Peter Oundjian

• Pjotr Iljitsch Tschaikowski (1840 - 1893): Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Major, Op. 44:
• 1 Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Major, Op. 44: I. Allegro brillante e molto vivace - 05:45
• 2 Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Major, Op. 44: I. Tempo I - Cadenza 04:53
• 3 Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Major, Op. 44: I. Meno mosso moderato assai - 05:03
• 4 Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Major, Op. 44: I. Tempo I - 04:26
• 5 Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Major, Op. 44: II. Andante non troppo 14:25
• 6 Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Major, Op. 44: III. Allegro con fuoco 07:23
• Aram Khachaturian (1903 - 1978): Piano Concerto in D-Flat Major, Op. 38:
• 7 Piano Concerto in D-Flat Major, Op. 38: I. Allegro maestoso 14:05
• 8 Piano Concerto in D-Flat Major, Op. 38: II. Andante con anima 10:21
• 9 Piano Concerto in D-Flat Major, Op. 38: III. Allegro brillante 08:58
• Total Runtime 01:15:19

Info zu Tchaikovsky & Khachaturian: Piano Concertos

After a year off the concert platform, Xiayin Wang, a specialist in the romantic repertoire, presents a new recording of two relatively little-played piano concertos: No. 2 by Tchaikovsky, in its much lesser-known yet extremely virtuosic original version, and Khachaturian’s. The disc also marks the 125th anniversary of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, here conducted by its Music Director, Peter Oundjian.

Involving the same forces as Wang’s earlier recording of American concertos (Editor’s Choice in the magazine Pianist), the album follows a performance in Edinburgh’s Usher Hall, described by The Scotsman as ‘breathtakingly athletic’.

Composed more than fifty years apart, these pieces have perhaps only one thing in common, namely an opening grandiosity or grandeur. Yet, while Tchaikovsky in 1879, in his heyday, undercut imperial splendour with a wealth of contrasting material that pointed the way ahead to more experimental, post-imperial concertos such as Prokofiev’s Second, Khachaturian’s folk generalisations, vaguely Armenian or Georgian, remain the consistent thumbprints of a rather heavier style.

"...These are performances of tremendous energy and power. Xiayin Wang has a phenomenal technique and plays the fastest of runs and most powerful of chords apparently without effort. Soloist, conductor and orchestra sound as if they are excited to be performing together and the sparks really fly in both works. The Chandos engineers know this auditorium well and the sound has all the clarity and range that large romantic style concerti like these need to sound at their best... Given the magnificence of the main work on this Chandos Release I have to give it overall a most enthusiastic welcome." (Dave Billinge, MusicWeb-International)

“... there is no doubting the excellence of the music-making – in both Concertos – and, between them, Brian Pidgeon and Ralph Couzens have secured production values and recorded sound of the highest class.” (Colin Anderson, ClasicalSource.com)

Xiayin Wang, piano
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Peter Oundjian, conductor

Xiayin Wang
is an artist of keen musicality and sweeping virtuosity. Praised by The New York Times for her “estimable grasp of pianistic color and her ability to maintain and illuminate a strand of melody within the thickest of textures,” Ms. Wang has released numerous celebrated recordings and performed throughout the world, from New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, to music centers in South America, Europe, and Asia. As Musical America put it: “She can be at one moment sensual and the next rhythmically driving…with such assuredness, such delicacy, that one forgets the difficulties inherent in the performance, and is left breathless in musical awe.”

Ms. Wang’s discography has received international acclaim, with her most recent Chandos recording of Alberto Ginastera’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 with the BBC Philharmonic and their Music Director Juanjo Mena being hailed by Gramophone as “jaw-droppingly impressive” and singled out by The New Yorker’s Alex Ross. Her recordings of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Sonatas (2014) were lauded for “flawless” (BBC Music Magazine) technique and “awesome clarity and poise” (Gramophone, Editor’s Choice for both Rachmaninoff discs), and her disc of American Piano Concertos (2013) was crowned disc of the month by MusicWeb International. Ms. Wang’s 2018 release of a lesser-known collection of works by Granados on Chandos was praised by the BBC Music Magazine as catching “the spirit of youthful Spanish ardour.” Her next album with Chandos is set to release on November 2, with Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concertos No.1 & 3 and Scriabin’s only concerto.

Recent highlights include orchestral debuts with the Minnesota Orchestra, Pacific Symphony and Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra; solo recitals in North and South America; performances/recording of Tchaikovsky & Khachaturian Piano Concertos with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Peter Oundjian; a recital with the Fine Arts Quartet in Milwaukee for the Saint-Saëns Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 14; and a return solo recital at New York City’s celebrated International Keyboard Institute & Festival at Hunter College’s Kaye Playhouse.

Her 2018-19 season includes debuts with the Aiken Symphony Orchestra performing the Gershwin Piano Concerto in F, the Southwest Florida Symphony performing Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 3, and the Spanish National Orchestra performing Britten’s Piano Concerto, as well as a UK tour of the Gershwin with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain Tour and chamber music concerts in California with violinist Alexandra Soumm. Also in the 2018-19 season, Ms. Wang joins the distinguished faculty at The New School’s Mannes School of Music as an instructor of piano.

Ms. Wang has performed with the Baltimore, Houston, and Pittsburgh Symphonies, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma. She has appeared in recital in New York at Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, Vienna at Mozartsaal, as well as in France, Italy, Hungary, Russia, Mexico, Cuba, Chile, Costa Rica, and her native China.

She completed her studies at the Shanghai Conservatory and garnered an enviable record of first prize awards and special honors for her performances throughout China. Ms. Wang, who began piano studies at the age of five, came to New York in 1997. She holds Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Professional Studies degrees from the Manhattan School of Music.

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