A packed house on a Wednesday night suggested a lot of Bay Area patrons had high expectations from a known, great performer. Was it 5 or 6 or 7 encores at the end that a wildly enthusiastic standing audience and an obviously grateful and maybe a bit surprised performer expressed that expectations were exceeded. Ms Wang came to please with a repertory of the flashiest, dynamic, loud and jaw dropping program and encore pieces. The last, the conclusion of the Rachmaninoff 2nd Concerto as an encore which seemed to have her playing both piano and orchestra parts was truly memorable.

Miss Wang’s performance Tuesday night at Disney was amazing. Last night at Segerstrom was less so I think because the orange county crowd went there to see her sexy outfits and pyrotechnic piano playing. They did not understand (accept) Yuja’s mellower program of lesser known pieces. Let’s allow some diversity and experimentation. I loved it!

SAME AS THE TITLE

Very strange recital. Yuja decided not to follow the written program, and seemed to be deciding in the moment what to play next, but this led to most of the audience not having a clue what they were listening to or when to applaud. The Scriabin (Sonatas #4 and 5) were spectacular, transcendental and technically phenomenal, as was Ravel Barque sur L'Ocean. But in my opinion Ms. Wang needs to rethink her Chopin and Brahms - wrong sound, wildly erratic rhythm - the mazurkas were bizarre. Berg Sonata was a big blur. And why was she so upset at the end of the concert? Audience clapped for almost 5 minutes before she came out, scowled and went backstage...no encore.

Having sat through a confusing first half during which a floor length garment got caught in a pedal I was not surprised to discover that several groups around me did not return after a lengthy interval during which a piano tuner worked hard to restore the much abused instrument. Why was Ms.Wang wearing sunglasses and why did she disappear so frequently from the stage?

Changing the program order added unnecessary confusion to a recital which included a number of pieces not often performed.