Yuja Wang performs Kapustin's Toccatina from his 8 Concert Etudes Op. 40 at the VF 2022

Yuja Wang performs Kapustin's Toccatina from his 8 Concert Etudes Op. 40 at the Verbier Festival 2022
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Nikolai Kapustin, 8 Concert Etudes, Op. 40
No. 3: Toccatina
Yuja Wang - Pianist
Concert recorded at Salle des Combins (Verbier, Switzerland), on July 26, 2022.
© Idéale Audience
#YujaWang #VerbierFestival #Piano
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[@ivory7564]

im a big fan of Yuja Wang and Kapustin..... THIS IS A TOTAL COMBO ATTACK FOR ME. LOVE IT!!!!!

[@victoza9232]

I, too, am a big Yuja fan, but I think she plays this way too fast, and stomps over everything as if she's in a hurry to go to the restroom.

[@ShaunakDesaiPiano]

For a more accurate version of what the piece should sound like at this speed, watch Shan Shan Sun’s rendition. I love Yuja Wang and her technique, but it’s clear that in this encore performance, she was seeking to impress with her speed rather than emphasise technique.

[@PaulGrootendorst]

I agree. Shan Shan Sun’s rendition is better

[@victoza9232]

@@PaulGrootendorst I'd say Kapustin, too, did it pretty well. 😄

[@PaulGrootendorst]

her Fitbit watch must be registering 57 miles on that performance

[@amaurylopez5558]

Every time I see her,Ms Wang is more amazing than before 👍👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼thank you ¡

[@bigboiwaffle5076]

Simply amazing! Love it!😊

[@siyanomtshongwana4902]

Oh good Lord!! Shes superb❤

[@user-cc1zc3xc1m]

Amazing!

[@AsiaticKlassic]

What an amazing performance as response to the encore. Yuja Wang plays as she is the jazz pianist every classical pianist wants to be, as well as she is the classical pianist every jazz pianist wants to be.

[@SCRIABINIST]

Kapustin is more like that description. Yuja plays this piece very well but it still feels more on the classical side of things

[@rojoo3842]

@@SCRIABINIST Yuja is uniquely at the top of the living piano players in the world. This piece is so fast and so smooth, here the timing is superior. Thanks to Kapustin's for Toccatina, what a master piece.

[@christianb178]

I dont see how this captures the spirit of jazz if you are just trying to play the piece as fast as you can.. Its impressive but its just a trick and not playing the piece with soul..

[@notmymain2256]

Yet she's not the classical pianist every classical pianist wants to be nor the jazz pianist every jazz pianist wants to be... I usually do appreciate her playing (she's miles away technically) but all the jazz musicality is lost here

[@Silvermoth_486]

Her head smashes have always been top-tier. Piano skills are pretty good too.

[@richardvolpe7664]

Head smashes? No idea what this is.

[@jaimebondoc5619]

The precision and finger strength. Out of this world!

[@jurglietha2901]

Alle diese jungen Virtuosen überspielen das Stück tempomässig! Das rauscht über den Hörer hinweg wie ein Wasserfall. Man höre die Einspielung des Komponisten: dort stimmt ALLES: Tempo, Akzente, Groove, die melodischen und harmonischen Zusammenhänge werden hörbar - man beginnt unweigerlich zu tanzen! Diesen jungen Klavierlöwen möchte man dringend empfehlen, einige Semester Jazz-Piano zu studieren.

[@user-xr7iw4jr1t]

Фантастическое исполнение!

[@Tadano_Hitohito861]

Gran turismo 5 spec 2.0 flashbacks Best version of the song, idk why the comments are pissed about her playing at this tempo, it's really good

[@tobiasmaa3655]

musicality lost in virtuosity.... I love the play of Yuja Wang, she's one of the most brilliant piano players of our time. But this way to play the Toccatina robs it of the spirit of Kapustin. Get a look of his own interpretation here on youtube and you know what i mean.

[@bc4315]

100% correct.

[@shoumomukherjee5662]

I saw / heard another 6 renditions . This is the best in my opinion

[@Artist_Aejoo]

역시 유자왕이네요 너무 멋있어요 👍👍👍

[@Davideberti]

No Words

[@melaniamonicacraciun9900]

She is amazing indeed, hoping she will never get tired performing and having fun to entertain us, fans are always so happy to enjoy such great performances oh yezzzzzz, big big like & big oceanic hugzzzzz adorable Yuja, that's what fans are for

[@Franz_Liszt_Korean]

Agree

[@nyankichi1504]

I like this Toccatina best!

[@wimdehaan7722]

It is simply far toooooo fast.

[@bc4315]

Score Tempo = 132. Yuja tempo = somewhere in the 170s. Busted.

[@StefanFourie903]

she is incredible

[@bc4315]

@@StefanFourie903 Incredibly over-tempo, indeed.

[@StefanFourie903]

@@bc4315 it makes it more exciting, and you can see that see enjoys it and that she makes other enjoy it .

[@bc4315]

@@StefanFourie903 Speed != excitement. I'm excited to actually hear the music, not someone's overblown ego and vanity callously trampling it under their over-developed hands. Seeing a literal elephant destroy a piano by trampling all over it could be even more exciting than this, that doesn't make it musical and it certainly wouldn't make it an even better rendition of Kapustin's Toccatina because it makes the performance "more exciting" and we can see that the elephant enjoys it's trampling and makes others enjoy it.

[@StefanFourie903]

@@bc4315 well i enjoy it and everyone has their own style of playing

[@tziranpianist1641]

Why so fast? The marks and voices? It's not a career of velocity... it's KAPUSTIN!!

[@jameskleinberg5948]

Can't find any recordings by you of anything.

[@herobrine1847]

Aw but come on 1:20 sounds so cool

[@tomgiles1484]

@@jameskleinberg5948 One doesn't need to have recordings to have an opinion.

[@blakedavis4262]

About as good of a technical player as i've ever seen. Very rare talent on display here.

[@Allintocall.]

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@Jonjzi]

Dang, she's good

[@mistertornado2303]

She's playing it too fast - hard to hear some of the nice undertones and phrasing. I really like Kapustin's own recording of this piece.

[@JoeLinux2000]

Listen to Kapustin then, but he's dead, and not nearly the treat to the eyes. I'll pay money to hear Yuja any time she's in my area.

[@pigpag86]

I would also highly recommend Yeol-Eum Son's album on Kapustin 8 Concert Etudes. I honestly think she is the only one that plays on the same level as Kapustin himself, with a very different style.

[@cburvil]

It is very fast as you say, and maybe some things are lost, but then do you hear a whole load of new sounds that the extra speed reveals?

[@pigpag86]

@@cburvil musicality is about balance, not binary existential tests.

[@cburvil]

@@pigpag86 What?

[@gavincannon8385]

I love Yuja. Her playing is impeccable but this interpretation has lost the essence of the piece just to prove "dramatic speed." I can't play it, so I'm no expert but the composer's recordings are out there and those of his students too. We've lost what makes this piece truly difficult, the syncopations, the melody in the baseline, the harmony and of course the dynamics. Brava on showing your advanced technique none the less. It is amazing to watch.

[@jrwtalbot]

Too fast by far, even faster than when I heard her play it as an encore at the Barbican in London about 5 years ago. If you want to hear the notes then seek out a performance by a then 16-year-old called Lauren Zhang as part of her recital in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition. She plays it as music, not a firework display.

[@shoumomukherjee5662]

Heard Zhang . Prefer Yuja

[@antoniocotzia8622]

Fantastica 🌹🌹🌹😘

[@IvanSobolevComposer]

Ван Юйцзя по прозвищу :«летающие пальцы»

[@branislavmiladinovic7284]

00:24 - 00:31 insaaaaaaaneeee🤣

[@CamilleBraiki]

Too fast 😔

[@user-rx2tt9oc7j]

А смысл этюда в чем заключается объясните)

[@annmiller3867]

With Fitbit…

[@King14414]

I can't wait for her to start playing more Beethoven and more Chopin.

[@bassaniobrokenhart5045]

Speechless... And, by the way, I guess this is politically incorrect but... she's a bit of all right!

[@andrewmorton3344]

Haha…I don’t think she’d mind, or she wouldn’t wear those outfits.

[@msmorado]

what? only 484 likes?

[@wojciechzby]

Jesus!

[@haritsprabowo6157]

Sponsored by Xiaomi mi band

[@shoumomukherjee5662]

She has made me a classical piano enthusiast again after Bela Bertok

[@SAraya-sd2yh]

Simp

[@misterbonzoid5623]

Is she sight-reading this from an iPad?

[@Franz_Liszt_Korean]

Second

[@timothygremlin9737]

Faster, FASTER!! That's right!

[@nancy4379]

Yes, her fingers move lightning speed, BUT she misses important melodies in the right hand. In places the bass is too heavy. Instead of playing as fast as she can, she needs to pay more attention to other details in the music. There ARE dynamic markings!

[@antoniogangemi1668]

Tutta invidia la tua.

[@nancy4379]

@@antoniogangemi1668 No I'm not. Have you heard Kapustin play it? You will see what I mean. We should play as the composer wishes.

[@JoeLinux2000]

Rather petty criticism in my book. Everyone has their own interpretation. I happen to like most everything she plays. She's head and shoulders above most. Her fingers are just faster than your ears.

[@pigpag86]

@@JoeLinux2000 "Her fingers move faster than your ear" is honestly the pettiest compliment I have ever heard about a musician.

[@danielwmwolf]

@@nancy4379 it needs an educated understanding to free your self from the composer yet be true to his concept and intentions. The privelige to witness a interpretation of this piece by an artist like her has no room for nitpicking. It is your opinion but I am happy to disagree. 🎹

[@Ricardo7250]

I don't get why so many comments here are pissed at this performance. This piece doesn't get hurt all that much by faster tempo and also, what is wrong with her showing off and having fun? Even if that's not the best way to play this piece, that's a live performance and there's plenty of awe from seeing that speed in front of your eyes

[@frankgrimeson]

I'll go a step further and say that hers is my preferred version of the Toccatina. Most pianists are simply incapable of playing it correctly and musically at this tempo; that doesn't mean that they wouldn't jump at the chance to if they could. As for why people put this performance down? Best case, they're biased by non-musical things, e.g., the performance they heard first was slower and that is anchored in their mind as the "correct" interpretation. Worst case, they're just not sophisticated musically and can't appreciate something that is unbelievably great even when it's staring them in the ears.

[@bc4315]

It's unmusical. It's that simple. The piece is most certainly hurt by being played at this tempo. If you can't hear that, wow! You sound like you're more interested in athletics than music, maybe you should go watch some football instead and get some of that visceral excitement you're apparently looking for.

[@Ricardo7250]

@@bc4315 I'm interested in both athletics and music. Aside from sound I also like bodies moving, insteresting gestures, confidence and having fun. You can see music in sports and vice versa. The rhythm and phrase structure in this etude is much simpler compared to the others, so playing it faster doesn't hurt that much. So yeah, I don't know what you are rambling about

[@bc4315]

​@@Ricardo7250 I'm here for music. That's it. I'm not here because I'm fascinated by her gestures, confidence, or her body moving. I was very straightforward - this is an unmusical interpretation. That's rambling to you? If you can't hear that there's nothing more to say; yeah, you definitely don't know what I'm talking about. Agreed.

[@Ricardo7250]

@@bc4315 Your notion of musicality is a tiny little box.

[@AlexanderGoroshilov]

If you can play fast it doesn't mean you should. Choosing a right tempo while resisting temptation of showing off your skills is actually a good sign of "musical maturity".

[@bc4315]

​@@mikel8850 Clearly displaying how little you know what you're talking about. Music IS a form of expression. That's what's lacking in this performance - expression. It's just a blur of brutal virtuosity for it's own sake. Perhaps Liszt would be on board (no surprises there, perhaps even moreso Alkan); but Rachmaninoff? 🙄

[@pineapple7024]

⁠@@bc4315 Yes, Rachmaninoff was known to change a bunch of stuff during his performances. Dynamics, speed, voicing, dude was the number one flexer of the 20th century

[@marcusstoica]

​@@pineapple7024Change maybe, but to the point of butchering the piece? Listen to some of Bob Dylan's renditions of his song, "All Along the Watchtower" and tell me with a straight face that he understood what he wrote at all.

[@DavidFernandez-oi6ku]

So you know how we all express ourselves and our emotions in similar yet very different ways? Music is no different, she is expressing herself through her playing, fortunately her energy doesn’t get lost on me much like it does you. Maybe learn how to appreciate all forms of expression instead of getting mad when she doesn’t conform to some arbitrary standard you’ve set based on your limited scope of understanding. You’re narrow minded

[@johapet]

Really necessary to cut off the beginning? Those mutilated videos are just annoying. I do not want this channel in my stream.

[@user-zn1tl3ws9i]

王羽佳出演这么多次托卡塔了，轮指为什么还是弹不好

[@user-cx5zy8sg3e]

素早く動く指はさすがです。しかし右手のメロディーもとても美しいのでもう少しスピードを抑えて欲しいなぁと思いました。

[@keyboardtek]

A human can play this fast?

[@daniellisowski4919]

Im a cleaning man at the hall. I found a couple of fingers On the piano. There was no Blood. Not mars ! Are you Hiding in jupiters gasses ???

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

Way too muddy in the textures. The speed is fine if you can keep it clear. She doesn't. Really not a good performance.

[@pierluigidinardodimaio3708]

my cat play better

[@user-dt3hl8zr7f]

Clever Cat💪👍

[@B0XMATTER]

The Chinese really have no sense of rhythm or tempo, do they. Just play as fast as you can read the notes. What a disappointment.

[@abiakkk]

Fast, brilliant and corny

[@ciararespect4296]

Marc Andre hamelin owns this. This is a bit muddy and wrong dynamics

[@BiggyJimbo]

Not good. Too messy. There is no rhythm of emphasis of the melodies

[@richardvolpe7664]

To BiggyJimbo: One could say it's too fast, but messy? Not at all - - it's quite accurate. And her rhythm is "spot on." And "melodies?" What do you think this is - - a Chopin nocturne?

[@yuanxing7450]

Okay you’re the best

[@BiggyJimbo]

@@yuanxing7450 No I'm not. There is no best and obviously it's subjective, but this just doesn't capture the spirit of the piece for me. I feel it needs an almost metronomic rhythmic drive - that's where it's energy comes from. Rushing through it in an uneven manner like Yuja does here, loses all of that rhythmic vitality. I honestly think that Kapustin's own performance is the best

[@yuanxing7450]

@@BiggyJimbo Anyway it’s different people’s taste,that’s her style, and i always like it, she got me.

[@BiggyJimbo]

@@yuanxing7450 That's good that you like it, I suppose I'm just spoiled by how perfect Kapustin's own performance is

[@markfreedman2470]

Robotic Speedball. No feeling. Trying to prove something that has nothing to do with music.

[@richardvolpe7664]

In a fast, perpetual-motion, essentially mechanical-style piece such as this, just where and how could you insert "feeling", of all things?

[@hugowilliams1988]

what feeling do you have when you listen to slower version ?

[@user-dt3hl8zr7f]

​@@richardvolpe7664 Listen to Masleev performance of these piece and then You'll know "where".

[@shoumomukherjee5662]

I read comments here about Yuja playing it too fast and heard another 6 versions . Much ado about nothing . Difference is imperceptible . Listen to Yuja play Rhapsody in Blue . NOBODY does gentle melody like she does .

[@wimdehaan7722]

Simply too fast. Way too fast. A pitty.

[@jpk1228]

Another stupid jealous comment.

[@wolfgangschulz-pagel6181]

Too fast. No groove. No.

[@ForeverFall]

such a lack of musicality. what happened to her?

[@terryss95]

What's even the point of playing the piano if all you intend to do is musical violence? This performance holds the same cultural and sentimental values of a sweaty brute with an overdose of creatine and proteins screaming at the gym. She isn't doing any favor to Kapustin's reputation as a composer. Thank god show-off pianists as Wang can only spare the time to read Concert Études and nothing else of Kapustin's beautiful compositions, which are a treasure among contemporary music.

[@hugowilliams1988]

you are even worse pretending to be Kapustin.

[@terryss95]

@@hugowilliams1988 Only somebody used to self-centered, mediocre show-off pianists could come up to this stupid conclusion. Mixing up defending the composer and his work and predenting to be the composer himself, how disrespectful can you be? There's a limit to how ridiculous and stupid "interpretation" can be when you have literal audio recordings of the composer playing his own works.

[@JoeLinux2000]

Yawn. your commentary bores me. It's so off target.

[@pigpag86]

100% agree with OP.

[@terryss95]

@@JoeLinux2000 The target must be how obsessed you're with Wang as a woman, not a as a musician.

[@JoE_Songs]

nope.

[@Alleghenymike]

Remember you older folks, when we took 33 ⅓ LPs and cranked the speed up to 78? We laughed and giggled because it made the music sound so absurd. Well, thats exactly what I felt when i heard this. This isn’t musicianship, it’s ostentatious showmanship. Yuja, I lost some respect for ya on this one. Its supposed to be about the music, isn’t it?