Pianist Yuja Wang is a phenomena in our time. A remarkable artist who is young enough in mind to make shockingly original music on stage, while being experienced enough to navigate the sometimes cut throat world of the classical music industry.

Between The Bars host Yannick Dondelinger joins Yuja Wang for a taxi ride to Amsterdam and an especially informal chat about the genius of Rachmaninov, the joy of China’s cuisine, living in the USA, religion, the privacy of Bachs music, performing with the late and great Claudio Abbado, and many many more topics….. enjoy the ride.

A full transcript of the episode is copied below.

photo: Yuja Wang © Julia Wesely

music excerpts: © Deutsche Grammophon (2011): Yuja Wang/Mahler Chamber Orchestra/Claudio Abbado: Rachmaninov - Paganini Rhapsody 

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TRANSCRIPT

Transcript EP 15: Yuja In Our Time

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Hi, I'm Yannick and welcome to another episode of Between the Bars, the podcast of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Yuja in our time. An informal chat with a very special pianist. She's a phenomenon in our time, Yuja Wang.

 

[Music excerpt: Rachmaninov/ Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini, Op. 43 – Variation 15]

 

Yuja Wang: He's, like, ready for the encore? Encore. Meaning the Paganini. Like the minute he said that, I was like, oh, that's true. Like, this piece is playful, is genius. I think Rachmaninoff is the best composer.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Yuja Wang, reflecting on one of her first recordings with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, conducted by the late and great Claudio Abbado, when Yuja was just 21. And you're going to be hearing more of that Deutsche Grammophon recording throughout the episode. Since then, her fingers haven't stopped to rest. She's all over the world, stages all over social media, and commands a breadth of repertoire that shows a staggering inquisitiveness for music. Yuja is, without question, one of the most interesting artists of our time, and I was able to catch up and interview her as an artistic partner of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra on one of our tours together. We were on the way to Amsterdam. The weather was awful. You can hear the rain in the background, but the feeling was decidedly cozy and informal during what turned out to be a long but intimate taxi ride. Do you mind if we talk about. I mean, when you were growing up, it's always. I mean, fascinating.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: To know how someone discovers their instrument, how they start. Was it always going to be piano for you? Because I read somewhere. Of course I've done a bit of reading. And interestingly, I read that you're, you have to totally correct me if I'm wrong, that your parents were not particularly pushy.

 

Yuja Wang: No, but i was.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: But you were obviously deeply gifted from a really young age. Did you?

 

Yuja Wang: They're musicians, so they're like. They know how hard it is. So they're like, just be a mathematician or an engineer or a doctor or something.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Um, are you grateful for them that they didn't push you in that way? You could sort of discover the instrument.

 

Yuja Wang: They don't push me. I push myself. So it's the same thing, right? Um, no, the thing is, she was, um, she was a dancer, and she really. I think she tried for me to be a dancer, and I did not like to exercise and stretch and all that stuff and get up in the morning, right? So I just pretended I really like piano so I can sit. And then I.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: But you're so fit. You must exercise.

 

Yuja Wang: No, no, everyone says that. I think it's just, um. I don't know why my upper body is not so much lower.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Well, that must be the piano.

 

Yuja Wang: Yeah, it is so piano. Actually, it is quite funny because my mom is a dancer, so I did think about that too. Like it was so organic. How it's, um, how I play the piano from the very beginning, like, you know, don't hunch your back. The power is from from the feet, you know, from the bottom, like feeling grounded and, um, and also like having space kind of within yourself, this kind of thing. It was very organic, uh, when I started. So it's not I'm being relaxed and being economical. And then people always talk about that later. Like that's what strikes them. But I feel like, can we look past that and hear the music, you know. And also like, how do you battle with your high heels? I'm like, if you if I hear that question one more time.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: You said it, I didn't say anything. We strike that one. You were 12 when you left China for studies, I presume?

 

Yuja Wang: I was 14, I went to a summer camp when I was 12. I mean, at that age, it's not really my decision no more. It just happened. I don't really know.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: It felt like a good opportunity, your parents thought.

 

Yuja Wang: I think they wanted me to, to be a really independent person. So they sent me abroad.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: So you abroad alone. So they stayed. You went?

 

Yuja Wang: Oh, yeah.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: How did that feel?

 

Yuja Wang: Since 14. It feels great. At that age, there's, like, no more parents. Yeah. No, I think it's easier when you're younger with language, with costume, no, like, um, different culture. You just immerse yourself into it. But this sense of being an immigrant, I mean, lots of musicians are are immigrating from somewhere. Um, it's kind of like a special, especially somewhere like from China to America. Not like from Paris to Berlin. Um, so it's a big change. And that does something to you, I feel.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Really. Do you feel more American now?

 

Yuja Wang: I definitely do. Which is probably not a good thing right now.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Oh, that's a yeah. Have you noticed, um, change in America in the 20 years you lived there?

 

Yuja Wang: Well, I it's hard to say because I changed so much as well. Like when I was a kid and everybody's like, oh, here's an Asian kid who can move the fingers. But now it's like here is a pianist. I'm more established. Um, like, everything that was kind of being judged is a good thing. You know, like, she's not rushing anymore. She's so exciting. Or like, her left hand isn't too heavy. She's so powerful. Like how people see how you play. It seems to be a very arbitrary thing. So that's why I stopped reading critics. But in America, it feels so, actually so forgiving. I just remember when I was young. Um, whatever I do is not like. Oh, she moved fingers fast. It's more like, oh, it's so impressive. Blows us away. And I remember all this, like, really over the top superlatives. But at the same time, you're kind of missing the critical part. Like, okay, someone give me some feedback. I still miss that. Like someone really? Just be honest and and be masochists and tell me why.

 

[Music excerpt: Rachmaninov/ Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini, Op. 43 - Variation 2&3]

 

Yannick Dondelinger: It is great to be a millennial now in a in a world and also in a classical business. Its having to reinvent itself and realize, oh, you know, the same old recordings of the same canon. Thast's it.

 

Yuja Wang: I started noticing, like, now we're including more different repertoire from different backgrounds. And then you look back in the history, like all these female jazz players who are just out of this world, and then like, you look at old masters and they are doing exactly that. They are playing obscure music like, Gilels, Horowitz and they, they do, like you said, they have to reinvent themselves. Um. And, um, and I wonder if people are just, like, more aware of, conscious of what we're doing, but are we actually doing more than what they have done unconsciously? I don't think so. Right. Yeah. I heard some really, really old recordings, and it's just, like, so much beauty,  yeah.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: I mean, some people, they they do say the, the whole history of the recording industry is like the slow death of live music improvisation. I mean, we all know these crazy stories. If you go way back in Mozart's time and Mozart, Beethoven, they, their concerts would be like, like not chaos. But I mean, you know, they'd suddenly improvise something in the middle. How do you feel? How do you, as a pianist, when you think back to Mozart, just like going completely off page.

 

Yuja Wang: I wish I could improvise like that. I would do it too. And then, like, after cadenza, people apparently clap. I mean, like in Spain when we play in Madrid and Sevilla, they they applauded after the first of Ravel. And I loved it. I feel like so accomplished. And then when I didn't in Lisbon, I was like, oh, did I suck?

 

Yannick Dondelinger: But that's fabulous because for decades it was like. And so many times we're in the concert. And if someone applauds you.

 

Yuja Wang: Yeah. And that's even more disturbing than the applauding. It's just like, oh, it's a. It's like, it's the aristocratic part of the music of, like the concert goers in the beginning, not the musicians part that's talking when they shush people. It's like, we have to dress up. Well, we have to, you know, have certain manners to I mean, certain manners is needed. Quiet is great. No coughing and candy wrapping is great. Yeah. And I told, like Vicent started to improvise a bit in the rehearsal, you know in the Zfasman, and I was like, please do more of that. And since then, he's been doing that. It's so amazing. Yeah, it's exactly what that piece is, is about.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: So I grew up and the feeling that you're sitting on stage, you have the orchestra. It's very two dimensional. You're almost like a couple of speakers pumping out someone's favorite interpretation of, you know, they've been listening to a home already on their record player, and that's how I had to be in every evening. Should be perfect. The perfect. The same, of course. You know, because that's what everyone listened to on there when they were growing up, their favorite, you know, what's anyway? What is your favorite interpretation?

 

Yuja Wang: I know it's like there's one ultimate interpretation of each piece and I don't know, Rachmaninov 3 belongs to Horowitz and Chopin 2 is Zimerman. And you have to as a human, you cannot be reaching those gods level. But you try.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: You're not allowed to.

 

Yuja Wang: You're not allowed to. That's funny. So you grew up where?

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Me? I grew up in England, but my. I'm like, uh, French father, Czech mother. I live in Sweden. I have kids adopted from South Korea, Vietnam. So I call myself Eurotrash. That's me.

 

Yuja Wang: No, I see if you're born in China, you're just Chinese.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Right? Yeah, but I really envy these people who. Really know their roots. You know, I didn't. You know, I don't I feel I felt an immigrant in the country I was born in. Yeah. Not really. And it took me to join the GMYO the Mahler Youth Orchestra and go abroad to realize, oh, actually, I'm more a person of the world. You know, this is my family.

 

Yuja Wang: Yeah. Eurotrash.

 

[Music excerpt: Rachmaninov/ Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini, Op. 43 - Variation 4&5]

 

Yuja Wang: China is so vast and so much culture. I mean, I love food. As all good musicians do. And then I had a tour recital tour last December, and every city has their very special flavor and style of cooking, and some are sweeter, some are more in soups, and they have like different alcohol that goes with it. It's supposed to be health beneficial, not making your drunk. Everything's health beneficial. I think that's how they sell everything. Oh, and then and then it was just like from the food. You just can't tell how subtle and sensitive and and complex, you know, the whole country, the culture, the country is. Yeah. And I'm actually from this minority called Hui. There's 56 minorities, majority being Han and minority Miaos, Huis and ... It's, um, they have their own religion. So, yeah, I don't even understand it being Chinese, but I just feel really. And also we have different way of speaking. And then when I go back, I thought, I love Shanghai because it's very like New York, like, um, I love Hong Kong, I love Shenzhen, all these cities. But when I go back to Beijing, which is where I was born, like the way people speak is so, like nonchalant and so kind of rude, but like, so sweet, you know, like. And it just make you feel like, really heartwarming. Yeah.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Okay, but explain to me I'm really interested in this whole question of religion because I am absolutely an atheist.

 

Yuja Wang: Me too.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Oh. Oh, you're the second person on the planet I met who's actually, no, who's actually prepared to say that? Honestly. Um, how do you navigate that?

 

Yuja Wang: Agnostic. But in China, like, you have to say, you're atheist because you believe in Mao.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Oh, well. Okay. Oh, maybe I should move to China.

 

Yuja Wang: I mean, no, but then you have to believe in Mao. Yeah, there's a difference. The other day, I saw between nice and kind. And I think there's a difference between being having a religion and being spiritual. Yeah, I am being. I can be spiritual. I think every concert we have to kind of. That's my goal. Not perfection, but like kind of reaching that, um, that uplifted feeling. And I certainly have that feeling, whether sometimes if you go to a church like, the beauty, I think it's just an admiration for beauty, whether men made or nature. Um. Being spiritual is cool.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: It comes without strings attached. It's nice.

 

Yuja Wang: Yeah, totally. That's that's the only way I know how to be. But I don't know the other way of string attached, but I think I think it's like a safety blanket, you know, for people who doesn't have answers and nobody has answers like, about anything. We don't have answers about whether the hotel is ready or not in this level. But like, you know, you want kind of, you want your future to be better than now or you, you want, if you're having a great life, you want to keep it and not change. And you're kind of, yeah, scared of, its fear, right? And then you feel like, well, there's always a a father figure who can reassure me that I'm okay.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: And it always was a father figure. That's the other thing with religion. Always seems to be men. It's the man who will reassure you.

 

Yuja Wang: Yeah, the woman will take care of me. But the man who's gonna be having the answers.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: But the future is. The future is with women.

 

Yuja Wang: I mean, it's not. Is that gonna be better? I'm not sure.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: No. Well, the future might not be with the human race. Full stop.

 

Yuja Wang: Exactly.

 

[Music excerpt: Rachmaninov/ Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini, Op. 43 - Variation 17]

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Can we go back for a second to recordings. I know we, we started to talk about something we were interesting about the...

 

Yuja Wang: Clinical?

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Yeah. Clinical. The history of it. And, you know, the end game of that is, why continue doing recordings? And then I remembered the first time you met our orchestra was in, it was concerts, but it was also a recording scenario for our in 2010 I think. Mhm. And also it wasn't recording any old pieces. It was really iconic repertoire.

 

Yuja Wang: Mm. Rachmaninoff 2 and Paganini.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Yeah. The  Paganini Variations. I mean looking back on that. So. Okay. That's a, that's a, what do you call it. A recording is also a moment in history. It's a cataloging of something.

 

Yuja Wang: Yeah. Yeah, I love that cover. And I also love the recording. Yeah. No that was I think at that time um, I was like living the dreams like, oh my God. Playing with Claudio. I did with Lucerne the summer before in the opening concert Prokofiev 3. Did you play it too? Yeah, yeah. Um, and then usually, they told me, it's like Pollini or Brendan, and I was like, yes, it's like stamp of approval, which is a big thing when you just came out of school. Um, and then they were like, what do you want to record? I was like, anything with Claudio. And then it actually happened. I was like. Oh my God.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: So they chose it. Or you said, I want to do these pieces. Or they said, what would you like?

 

Yuja Wang: Well, I wanted to record with Claudio, but Claudio chose those two pieces, which is not very um, the acoustics in Ferrara was not very conducive. It's so dry. I was like, oh no, it's so, it's always like everything, right? Like, you look so much forward. You so much look forward. And then when it happens, like, oh, is that how it happens?

 

Yannick Dondelinger: How did it feel at the moment. I mean, you were I was 23 or something. I mean, totally different place in your life.

 

Yuja Wang: I was 21...

 

Yannick Dondelinger: In your 20s. Yeah. A completely different place to where you are now. And you made this recording that people are going to listen to, like, forever more.

 

Yuja Wang: Oh, I certainly did not think about that part. Oh.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Well, that's probably good.

 

Yuja Wang: I was kind of I was kind of hoping, um, to record something else, but that was the repertoire is by him, by his choice. Um, and I just remember after the one, two. Um. He's, like, ready for the encore? Encore meaning the Paganini.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: All right, all right.

 

Yuja Wang: And then I was like, the minute he said that, I was like, oh, that's true. Like, this piece is playful, is genius, but it's like, pure. I think Rachmaninoff is the best composer. Yeah. I don't care what other.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Well, you are a pianist. Of course. I think you're totally invited to.

 

Yuja Wang: Yeah, and Chopin too, the ones you hate.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: No, Rachmaninoff is a genius.

 

Yuja Wang: He is.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: And also for his symphonic work, which is...

 

Yuja Wang: Yeah, the symphonic dances I just played. It's. Yeah. And like, we heard it, so it just becomes so popular, so you know how it goes. But when you learn it, it's like everything is connected. He's. He's equally organized as Brahms. Right. Motivicly and thematically and harmonically and everything. And just maybe a little jazzy with the chromatics and it's just so brilliant.

 

[Music excerpt: Rachmaninov/ Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini, Op. 43 - Variation 19]

 

Yannick Dondelinger: We talked earlier about the German repertoire that MCO has really been in a fabulous way steeped in. Mhm. And the repertoire that you're doing with us now is the Russian repertoire going back from, you know, Rachmaninoff and then those dudes who settled in America before the war. It is a very different world. How do you navigate that? The language.

 

Yuja Wang: I mean, I mean, I start. Yeah. It is. You listen to it differently and you also like give yourself differently. But I started with Mozart and Beethoven. Bach for sure. When I was a kid in China, and actually they were. So I remember back then I had to go to the library. There was no IMSLP. Um, I mean, anything after Brahms is considered contemporary. And then if someone plays Messiaen, oh my god, it's like the Holy Grail.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: But you've done Turangalîla Symphony.

 

Yuja Wang: I just recorded it, yeah.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: That is a fabulous piece.

 

Yuja Wang: It's like cocktail hour in heaven. Um, but the first thing that made me love music is Tchaikovsky. Swan Lake, cause my mom's a dancer. And I hear that I was like, oh, and my dad is a percussionist. He's like, he loves this Zfasman kind of thing. And he plays jazz in like, hotels. And he, he plays more like pop stuff. I mean, if you're a percussionist, anything goes. Um, and then I never play Bach in public because I actually really... So the curriculum back then was like, you played Bach, classical music, romantic and the Chinese music. That was like our audition or whatever. So I have to practice Bach, and I always feel so peaceful, like everything is in its right order and everything goes as it should be. Like, just calm when I play Bach. Not like when I play like Chopin or whatever. Like Mussorgsky is like, oh my God, I don't know where my finger goes. And and then they keep saying, I'm rushing and I'm not. And there's like metronome and like, you know, that feels like dancing again. But when I played back, it felt so just great. And I want to keep that because I think if I play that on stage, I'm not gonna feel that calm.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Haha. You want to keep it for yourself?

 

Yuja Wang: Yes. It's not for public.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Selfish

 

Yannick Dondelinger: It's for public consumption as well.

 

Yuja Wang: It's not for public consumption. Like I leave a little bit for myself.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: I totally get it. I do. I mean, a slightly obvious question. Now this. You know, you talk a lot about dance, rhythm and all that, and then you talk about the influences of your parents. And then. And then I read a lot about you. Since you know your life now in America, you've really, um, i can't think of the words, sucked up the music of American 20th century from Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky and jazz and the influence of Gershwin. And all of this, to me, seems like a really logical connection with how you know how you you know what musically influenced you when you grew up? It's a really logical connection. Yeah, the linking of jazz rhythm dance, right? You know, a lot of this repertoire is dance related, and I don't mean like Viennese dance. I mean like.

 

Yuja Wang: No.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Do you ever think about that? Or is that just too obvious to even think about?

 

Yuja Wang: I guess we choose what's, um, what's innate. And I mean, it's like daddy issues, right? Talk about the father figure. Like, that's what you're familiar with as a child, and you can never get rid of that. And same with music. Like that's what I hear. And then I always want to find music, new music that kind of have that in the core. Um, like Zfasman and I didn't know, like jazz was banned in, in, uh, he's Ukrainian. Yes. Jazz was banned in Russia around his time. That's why we never heard of him.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Subversive music for sure.

 

Speaker7: Is it?      

 

[Music excerpt: Rachmaninov/ Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini, Op. 43 - Variation 23]

 

Yannick Dondelinger: We're coming towards the end of an all too short interview, and we suddenly start chatting about enjoying a drink on tour, but also the difficulties of growing up, sometimes alone on stage in the bright, often judgmental lights of the classical performing world. Back to the taxi.

 

Yuja Wang: But yeah, that's also a social norm that probably Gen Z is trying to change. Because if you want to meet up with some person, it's always like, let's have a drink. Yeah. After five. Let's have a drink. But not and it's not good. Like alcohol apparently kills brain cells. I read that, I know it because, I mean, you have to if you're in Belgium, you have to try to Kwak beer is part of the joy of life.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: You introduce me to Kwak beer. It's fabulous.

 

Yuja Wang: You don't have to eat for the rest of the day. It's so heavy.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: It's a meal.

 

Yuja Wang: Totally. It's like a different. It makes you happy in a different way. As in, like a nice gin tonic that we had in Madrid.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Variation is the spice of life.

 

Yuja Wang: It is. And my teacher is 96, Gary Goffman. He has vodka every day. He flavours on vodka.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: But do you think this generation, I mean, this generation now. And I think also generally in societies people think more in absolutes, like you've got to absolutely not drink. You've got to absolutely vote for my party. It's very extreme, absolute ideal. You have to follow.

 

Yuja Wang: I'd rather have the Absolut Vodka, right.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: I find that people can't have a conversation because it's always so absolut. I feel this way.

 

Yuja Wang: Yeah. We were talking about that. It's very debatable. It's like when we hear music, there is like a perfect way of playing this piece. And then actually, that's when I went to America, realize, that is so bullshit. And to break free from that. It's extremely liberating. And and then I start having my ideas and I start, like, experimenting. It can work. It might not work. I mean, maybe 70% of the time works. And that's already, like, super winning. Um, and then nowadays it's like, if you don't give a statement that means you are for or against. And it's like, no, actually I just didn't give enough thought and I, I don't I don't feel like I'm qualified to actually, I see the pros and cons of both sides. And I think people should be allowed to live that way. Um, and that doesn't mean, like, you're wishy washy, like you're not standing on your ground. I will stand my ground once I know, but I mean, sometimes I, I just I think both are fine.

 

[Music excerpt: Rachmaninov/ Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini, Op. 43 –

Variation 1 & Theme]

 

Yuja Wang: How do you figure out what's noise and what's real talk? I feel like people, especially when they have career young, which is everybody now, um, they really should know that earlier than, like, realize that by learning it the hard way, you know.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Did you have to learn it the hard way? Because you think so?

 

Yuja Wang: Yeah. I was very young. I was 16, and I was like, didn't have parents. Everything was like, very, uh, I'm just open, like.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: But that can also make you vulnurable.

 

Yuja Wang: Eager to. Exactly. And then it's. Yeah, open and vulnerable. But that's like, you know, how do you set boundaries? How do you, um, listen, more than talking in certain situations? Um. And I think it's all come down to trust in the end, which is what I have musically with this group. But it's not. It's rare, you know, it's like there are other people who, um. It's not. It's never the musicians. It's like all the other part of this whole huge system. Yeah.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: You're right at the top of that. I mean, you have to deal. You're like sort of one of the, you know, what do you call it, poster people for it. So you're really trapped at the top of the system. How do you navigate that?

 

Yuja Wang: Sometimes I just I don't know how. Because there's so many questions to me. You know, it's always questions. And some are pseudo questions because it's kind of like, this is a statement. You're doing this. It's not a question. Um, and yeah, in the end it's a good choice. But it's just it's like it's an illusion that you do have a choice, but you don't. Um.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: You ever thought of going into politics or such?

 

Yuja Wang: Well, at least I would have more power maybe.

 

[Music excerpt: Rachmaninov/ Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini, Op. 43 - Variation 18]

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Yuja Wang, a fabulous and insightful musician. Pianist. Human. She's young enough in mind to make shockingly original music on stage, yet has been around long enough now to understand how to navigate a profession that will eat you alive if you're not ready for it. And she's an immigrant, to boot. Something I understand well, who, like Rachmaninoff, her favorite pianist composer, has settled for the time being anyway, in the great musical cosmopolitan that is New York, with a grand piano in the living room of her apartment, high, high up over the Manhattan skyline. Me and my Mahler Chamber Orchestra friends can sometimes stand on the sidewalk along Broadway. Point a finger upwards and guess there's Yuja. Practicing in the clouds, preparing to come down to Earth somewhere on the planet. Long enough to step on stage and make music with us. For you. I leave you with Yuja Wang, playing variation 18 of Rachmaninoff's Paganini Variations with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Claudio Abbado conducting a Deutsche Grammophon recording.

 

[Music excerpt: Rachmaninov/ Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini, Op. 43 - Variation 18]

 

MCO would like to thank most of all Yuja Wang for her time and kindness in being interviewed on the way to Amsterdam and the Concertgebouw Hall, where we performed just a few hours later. Many thanks also to Deutsche Grammophon for the use of their recording of Yuja's Rachmaninoff Paganini Variations with us. And thanks, of course, to the musicians of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, who are the reason artists like Yuja Wang love coming to MCO to make music. Between the bars team is Matthias Mayr and me, Yannick Dondelinger and is a Mahler Chamber Orchestra Production.

 

Yannick Dondelinger: Don't forget. Keep listening!