Catalogue # CHAN10724

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

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

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

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

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Rachmaninov:
\nMoments Musicaux, Op. 16
\nÉtudes-Tableaux, Op. 33
\nVariations on a theme of Corelli, Op. 42

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Xiayin Wang (piano)

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