Does it make sense to speak of a Curtis Institute school? The concept is dubious. Lang Lang is not Paul Jacobs is not Yuja Wang. Yet the school seems to draw out individuality from its Chinese charges in fairly short order. Consider this release by Shenzhen-born Wei Luo, just 20 years old and a Curtis undergraduate (and a Gilmore Young Artist) when this handsomely designed debut album was released. There's the requisite crisp passagework and polyphonic clarity throughout in a recital program touching Classical and 20th ...
Read More
Does it make sense to speak of a Curtis Institute school? The concept is dubious. Lang Lang is not Paul Jacobs is not Yuja Wang. Yet the school seems to draw out individuality from its Chinese charges in fairly short order. Consider this release by Shenzhen-born Wei Luo, just 20 years old and a Curtis undergraduate (and a Gilmore Young Artist) when this handsomely designed debut album was released. There's the requisite crisp passagework and polyphonic clarity throughout in a recital program touching Classical and 20th century bases. There's a promising sense of Luo having thought through interpretations by herself; her playing doesn't much resemble that of her teacher, Gary Graffman, and there's something more that bears watching. when Luo plays Russian music, she already creates something absolutely distinctive: hard, yet inward. Sample the fugue from the Prelude and Fugue in D major, from the 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87, which sounds almost like electronic music. The Prokofiev Piano Sonata in B...
Read Less
Portions of content provided by Rovi Corporation. © 2021 Rovi Corporation.