Rachmaninoff: Moments musicaux

she fares extremely well in major solo works by Rachmaninov...Every one of the numbers in the Op. 33 Etudes-tableaux is vividly and incisively characterised, and she conjures a wonderful depth... — BBC Music Magazine, August 2012, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 28th May 2012
Catalogue No: CHAN10724
Label: Chandos
Length: 69 minutes

Gramophone Magazine

September 2012

Editor's Choice

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Rachmaninov: Moments Musicaux, Op. 16

Work length27:41

$6.00

$7.20

$9.60

Xiayin Wang
Recorded: 7, 8 November 2011, 10 February 2012
Recording Venue: American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, New York

No. 1 in B-Flat Minor. Andantino

Track length6:42

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No. 2 in E-Flat Minor. Allegretto - Adagio

Track length3:08

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No. 3 in B Minor. Andante cantabile

Track length6:02

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No. 4 in E Minor. Presto - Più vivo - Prestissimo

Track length3:00

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No. 5 in D-Flat Major. Adagio sostenuto

Track length3:57

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No. 6 in C Major. Maestoso

Track length4:52

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Excerpt, Rachmaninov: Études-Tableaux, Op. 33

Work length23:45

$8.00

$9.60

$12.80

Xiayin Wang
Recorded: 7, 8 November 2011, 10 February 2012
Recording Venue: American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, New York

No. 1 in F Minor

Track length2:50

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No. 2 in C Major

Track length2:13

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No. 3 (Op. posth.) in C Minor

Track length5:12

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No. 5 (Op. posth.) in D Minor

Track length3:05

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No. 6 in E-Flat Minor

Track length1:35

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No. 7 in E-Flat Major

Track length1:56

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No. 8 in G Minor

Track length3:54

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No. 9 in C-Sharp Minor

Track length3:00

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Rachmaninov: Variations on a theme of Corelli, Op. 42

Work length17:34

$23.00

$27.60

$36.80

Xiayin Wang
Recorded: 7, 8 November 2011, 10 February 2012
Recording Venue: American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, New York

Theme. Andante

Track length0:58

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Variation I. Poco più mosso

Track length0:37

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Variation II. L'istesso tempo

Track length0:33

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Variation III. Tempo di Minuetto

Track length0:37

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Variation IV. Andante

Track length0:58

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Variation V. Allegro (ma non tanto)

Track length0:19

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Variation VI. L'istesso tempo

Track length0:20

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Variation VII. Vivace

Track length0:29

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Variation VIII. Adagio misterioso

Track length0:50

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Variation IX. Un poco più mosso

Track length1:01

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Variation X. Allegro scherzando - Poco più mosso

Track length0:37

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Variation XI. Allegro vivace

Track length0:24

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Variation XII. L'istesso tempo

Track length0:38

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Variation XIII. Agitato

Track length0:32

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Intermezzo. A tempo rubato

Track length1:17

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Variation XIV. Andante (come prima)

Track length0:56

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Variation XV. L'istesso tempo

Track length1:33

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Variation XVI. Allegro vivace

Track length0:32

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Variation XVII. Meno mosso - Poco meno mosso

Track length0:55

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Variation XVIII. Allegro con brio

Track length0:34

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Variation XIX. Più mosso. Agitato

Track length0:29

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Variation XX. Più mosso

Track length0:56

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Coda. Andante

Track length1:29

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About

With her winning combination of consummate technical brilliance, fine musicianship, and personal verve, the pianist Xiayin Wang captures the hearts of audiences wherever she appears. She is achiving high levels of recognision for her commanding performances as a recitalist, chamber musician, and orchestral soloist in such venues as New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. This is Wang’s second disc for Chandos Records. Her previous disc, of piano works by Earl Wild, was an ‘International Piano Choice’ in International Piano.

The six Moments musicaux constitute a set of solo piano pieces, each representing a different but complementary musical form, such as the nocturne, song without words, barcarolle, virtuoso étude, or variations. Although intended from the beginning as part of a set, each piece holds its own well, with individual themes and moods, ranging from the sombre funeral march of No. 3 to the majestic canon of No. 6. Revolutionary and grand in style, the Moments musicaux still retain the charm of Rachmaninoff’s early works: dense, rich in counterpoint, highly chromatic, poignantly nationalistic, deeply felt, and, of course, exceptionally challenging to the pianist.

The Études-tableaux were composed as ‘picture pieces’. Rachmaninoff never did disclose what inspired each piece, but stated: ‘I don’t believe in the artist that discloses too much of his images. Let [the public] paint for themselves what [the music] most suggests.’

The Variations on a Theme of Corelli was the last original solo piano work that Rachmaninoff wrote, and the only one he composed outside Russia. The theme of this cycle is actually not by Arcangelo Corelli (1653 – 1713), but an old Spanish-French folk dance. The Variations were written in 1931, the same year that the composer boldly denounced the Soviet Union, referring to its leaders as ‘Communist grave-diggers’. Stalin consequently banned Rachmaninoff’s music, but, recognising its more appealing and generally less radical nature, rehabilitated it three years later. The work is among several pieces that were later well received in Moscow.

Reviews

August 2012

she fares extremely well in major solo works by Rachmaninov...Every one of the numbers in the Op. 33 Etudes-tableaux is vividly and incisively characterised, and she conjures a wonderful depth of feeling and range of keyboard colouring...The Corelli Variations here possess a poise, dignity and underlying melancholy that not every interpreter finds in this fascinating late work.

September 2012

Here, even in Rachmaninov's most savage and turbulent pages, is playing of an awesome clarity and poise. Xiayin Wang makes her chosen composer sound greater and more indelibly Russian than ever...you will surely be lost in wonder at Wang's pianistic but above all musical glory. Such playing underlines the pity one feels for those poor puritan souls still unable to appreciate such beauty.

Rachmaninoff: Moments musicaux

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