Search - Johannes Brahms, The Amity Players, Xiayin Wang :: Brahms: Piano Quartets, Opp. 25 & 60

Brahms that should not be missed.

Abel | Hong Kong | 05/17/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Two piano quartets by Johannes Brahms, performed by the Amity group and Chinese pianist Xia Yin Wang, and the next expectation is the great Brahms Piano Quintet by this combination.

Brahms's chamber works can be highly-charged emotionally, as evidenced in the Op. 25 and the great Quintet. The demand on interpretative skill is huge, and a mere possession of technique could never do justice to the pieces choosed in this album.

Xia Yin Wang and the Amity Players did a more than splendid job - the playing is both nuanced, well-balanced, full of musical coherence as well as abounding in emotional out-pouring of the most eloquent type. The pianoforte and the string trio worked together in the most emotionally integrated degree imaginable. The Op. 60 is a more lyrical piece, and the performers are equally capable of capturing the listeners' attention as in the more rhapsodic like Op. 25.

The recorded sound is very full and balanced, too, in order to do justice to the performers' splendid work.

I would like specifically to mention that Ms. Xia Yin Wang has not recorded extensively, but her musicality and interpretive power are already demonstrated to be among the strongest in the field of eminent Chinese pianists. Technically she is also highly capable, though never showy. Her ability to handle different aspects of the musical score is way ahead of her eminent colleagues, including Lang Lang, Yundi, Yuja Wang, Sa Chen, et al.

If she is not well known in China, it is China's own sad loss."