A Star-Studded Week With Zubin Mehta, Lang Lang, Yuja
/By Truman C. Wang
4/102022
LA Phil Conductor Laureate Zubin Mehta
It’s a star-studded week at the Disney Hall, headlined by LA Phil’s beloved former Music Director Zubin Mehta and superstar (some say popstar) pianists Lang Lang and Yuja Wang.
On April 3, Mehta directed Mozart’s C-Minor Mass in a bold, operatic style rather than liturgical. The impassioned delivery of “Laudamus te” and “Et Incarnatus est” might as well have been the Countess’ and Susanna’s arias from The Marriage of Figaro (which maestro Mehta will conduct in May in Florence, Italy). Mehta chose keen, brisk tempi throughout (a bit too brisk for my taste in the Kyrie and Credo, where Mozart prescribed Allegro maestoso) . Orchestral detail was precisely etched, with prominent trombones adding a dark intensity to the “Qui tollis”; and the chorus (the mighty LA Master Chorale, directed by Jenny Wong) well balanced with the orchestra, sang with fresh, youthful tone and total involvement. The topnotch SATB soloists were dominated by the two sopranos, Miah Persson and Brenda Rae. Persson sounded truly joyous in the flighty coloratura of “Laudamus te”, while Rae caroled celestially in “Et incarnatus est”. Tenor Attillo Glaser added his mellifluous tones to the “Quoniam” trio, and the lyrical bass of Michael Sumuel completed the SATB quartet in an airy, graceful account of the Benedictus.
Pianist Lang Lang
That same evening, pianist Lang Lang gave a recital of Bach’s Goldberg Variations to promote his new recording of the same. Unlike Glenn Gould’s landmark 1955 Goldberg recording which garnered near-universal accolades, Lang Lang’s efforts received mostly negative press. I would describe it as the Lang Lang-Bach transcription, akin to the Busoni-Bach but with eyebrow-raising oddities in ornaments and tempi, stretching the one-hour work to an unseemly ninety-plus minutes. At such somnambulant speeds, the famous ‘black pearl’ (variation 25) failed to stand out in a crowded pond of dark pearls (variations 15 and 21, as well as the aria and its da capo). Lang Lang’s other problem was his overpowering left hand which often jarred the delicate cantilena on the right hand (variations 13, 15). A self-indulgent, tradition-busting and ultimately unsatisfying Goldberg that shall live in infamy. Lang Lang’s encore, Jasmine Flower folksong, was everything the Goldberg was not – spontaneous, heartfelt, genuine.
Then came Yuja Wang three nights later, on April 16. The two were as different in temperament and style as Pogorelich and Kissin in the Russian school of piano playing. Yuja’s approach was free exploration while respecting tradition, placing the artist in the service of, not above, the composer. Thus, the Beethoven Sonata No. 18 followed the prescribed tempi fairly faithfully and stood out by virtue of Yuja’s unflappable energy and narrative power. The rest of her program was devoted to modern and new works of Schoenberg, Ligeti, Scriabin and Kapustin. One might not know all these pieces, but thanks to Yuja’s superb musicality and persuasive playing, they became as likeable as any in the standard repertoire. Six encores were offered, from the familiar (Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky) to the new and obscure (Glass and more Kapustin). Once again, anything Yuja touched, old or new, became fun and exciting. And that extends to her wardrobe choice as well — black sheer pantyhose gown in the first half (missing only a fluffy bunny cottontail), and a blingy silver evening gown in the second half.
Pianist Yuja Wang
Concluding the week on a high note, so to speak, was the return of Zubin Mehta on April 8 to conduct two works associated with death. Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto, played with pose and tender gravity by violinist Vilde Frang, took the listener on a serene journey away from earthly troubles. Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 remained an unfinished torso at the composer’s death. Like in the Mozart mass, the first movement was brisk but without any lessening of musical and spiritual interest. The orchestra played with heightened concentration, producing splendid cathedral-like sonorities and staggering climaxes The scherzo heard very fine oboe playing but it’s the concluding grand adagio that’s etched in the mind long after the music had stopped – the honeyed, imploring strings and dark, grieving brass chorales (in the horns and Wagner tubas). It’s an intensely compelling performance that’s the culmination of an exceptional week at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Truman C. Wang is Editor-in-Chief of Classical Voice, whose articles have appeared in the Pasadena Star-News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, other Southern California publications, as well as the Hawaiian Chinese Daily. He studied Integrative Biology and Music at U.C. Berkeley.