Yuja Wang and Vikingur Ólafsson stun in recital with works both old and new
The duo take the Symphony Hall stage in recital with works by Rachmaninoff, Schubert, and John Adams
Photo Courtesy of Robert Torres
Celebrity Series of Boston
Yuja Wang and Víkingur Ólafsson
Boston Symphony Hall
Feb. 21, 2025
Star pianists Yuja Wang and Víkingur Ólafsson took the Symphony Hall stage on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025, performing a Celebrity Series of Boston concert featuring works by Cage, Adams, and Rachmaninoff, among others.
While the virtuosity of the pair was evident, what was most impressive about the concert was how Wang and Ólafsson managed to tie disparate pieces together seamlessly. The gentle and undulating F-minor chords of the opening piece, Luciano Berio’s No. 3 “Wasserklavier” from his Six Encores, transitioned directly into the more brooding Schubert Fantasie in F-minor. The abrupt pauses in the Fantasie were brought out by the pair’s almost-telepathic connection: only rarely did the duo look at each other, but they played together just as intended. Indeed, the emotional range of the Fantasie was enhanced by Wang and Ólafsson’s generous (but not kitsch) rubato that made it seem like there was a single performer.
John Cage’s Experiences No. 1 followed, metaphorically linked to Schubert with its interspersed pauses. Its simple composition and harmony were played in an all-but-simple manner. Cage’s piece served as a contrast to the following piece, the rarely performed No. 6 from Studies for Player Piano, written by Conlon Nancarrow and arranged for two pianos by Thomas Adès. Like the Berio and Schubert, the duo connected the Cage piece and Nancurrow back to back. Ólafsson took the lilting, off-kilter bass line of the Nancurrow, while Wang played the jazz-like melody on top. Originally written for player piano, the duo performed the rhythmically challenging piece with ease, effortlessly staying together, even when it felt like each performer was in their own rhythmic world.
Massachusetts native John Adams’ pointillistic Hallelujah Junction ended the first half of the program. Adams recalls the many ways the choir sings “hallelujah” in Handel’s Messiah, through minimalistic rhythms that serve a sort of leitmotif for the piece. In a piece that could have easily gotten bogged down by its sheer complexity, the duo brought it to life with their clear and expressive interpretation. The piece had an energetic, fiery, and percussive ending that used alternating octave chords in a final interpretation of Handel’s motif.
The shorter works by Berio, Cage, and finally Arvo Pärt served as an appetizer to the main works of the program by Schubert, Adams, and Rachmaninoff. In this way, the program felt balanced, and alternated between more lighthearted pieces that built intrigue within the audience to the larger works. Whereas programs of mostly modern music can sometimes feel like an intellectual chore to get through, this one was structured such that the audience was waiting with bated breath for the next piece.
The best part of the concert was unquestionably the closing piece: Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances. Rachmaninoff himself arranged the orchestral work for piano duet. A highlight of the first movement was Wang’s solo (originally played on saxophone in the orchestral version) that demonstrated her unmatched dynamic range and legato. Even in the thickly orchestrated third movement, Wang and Ólafsson performed with such exceptional clarity that I heard many lines I had never noticed in the orchestral version. The sparkle of Ólafsson’s upper-register scales throughout the movement contributed to the frenetic yet controlled energy that had the audience sitting on the edge of their seats. Wang and Ólafsson’s virtuosic faster-than-normal ending to the piece brought the program to a thrilling close.
The duo ended the concert with four encores for piano four hands, starting with the No. 2 and 3 waltzes from Brahms’ Op. 39 and Dvořák Slavonic Dance Op. 72/2. After the Brahms waltzes, there was a palpable unspoken question in the audience: would that encore be the last? Wang and Ólafsson’s exuberant performance of Schubert’s Marche Militaire, which finally ended with a brilliant performance of Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 1, was more than sufficient to answer that question, and concluded the concert as a whole.