Yuja Wang’s Der Erlkönig

August 13, 2010

The Franz Liszt transcription of Schubert’s three lieders Gretchen am Spinnrade, Auf dem Wasser zu singen and Der Erlkönig are part of Yuja Wang’s 2009 / 10 repertoire. Among the three, Der Erlkönig is perhaps the most famous one, although it doesn’t seem to be favoured by many pianists (transcriptions never are). There isn’t a lot to say about Wang’s interpretation of the piece itself, but it is noteworthy when examined in larger context.

I attended Wang’s recital on July 2 at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing, when she played the three pieces mentioned above. It doesn’t take more than one bar into Der Erlkönig before one drops his jaw: the tempo that Wang has chosen is on the verge of what human body is capable of. (Especially with her slim build.) Whether this extreme tempo is the reason why she has omitted the thumb notes of the right hand in the sixth and seventh bar is anyone’s speculation; it could also be the case that the score she uses is written that way. In any case, it’s a trivial matter which by no means — as one commentator sullenly remarked on YouTube — suggests that she’s not capable of playing all the notes on the score.

This choice of tempo comes as no surprise for a pianist in her early twenties (Wang was born in 1987). Everybody plays lightning fast when they’re young. Compare Vladimir Ashkenazy’s early recordings to his Decca ones and you’ll see what I mean. It took a young Ashkenazy only 2′59” to finish the third movement of Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 7 (The Young Ashkenazy Vol. II, by Testament), while Maurizio Pollini’s acclaimed DG recording of the same piece — recorded when Pollini was 29 and generally accepted to be the ultimate interpretation of the technically-challenging work — lasts for 3′17”.

Wang’s ultra-fast Der Erlkönig, however, has triggered argument on YouTube. In the comment area of a video of her playing the work sometime around the end of 2009, one sees a lot of users astonished by her sheer virtuosity. One of them pointed out that Wang’s version is indeed the fastest among the four available on YouTube, the other three being played by Sviatoslav Richter, Evgeny Kissin and Josef Hofmann, respectively. The interesting thing is that the commentator seemed to be scared off by this fact, as if admitting a 23-year-old girl somehow outperforms the three maestros (well, Kissin to a lesser degree) would be a blasphemy and poor judgement on his end.

‘Don’t misunderstand me,’ says user PowerofTrueInsight. ‘Of the three, Hofmann, Kissen [sic], and Richter, I like Richter the most, but because technically, yes technically, none of the three could match this young lady when playing this difficulty piece, even Richter (my favorite pianist for years), hard as he tried, couldn’t produce the same clarity, dynamics and virtuosity. I wish otherwise.’

Let’s put things into context. The Richter version, according to the uploader, was recorded live in Moscow in 1949 when he was 34 years old. The date of Kissin’s version is unknown, but it’s clearly a better thought out reading of the music, I would say it’s from a more mature age than 23. Hofmann’s recording was made when he was 27, in 1903.

In fact, Richter played almost as fast as Wang did — faster in some passages. The technical challenge of Der Erlkönig has not much to do with delicacy but everything to do with physical strength and power, which the hermetic Russian pianist is famous for. But the point here is that speed is not everything when one talks about technique. It’s far more difficult to be precise than to be fast on piano. Also, what you hear on CDs and concerts is rarely the maximum tempo a pianist is capable of.

I think Wang has made the right decision here in choosing tempo for a transcription by the greatest piano virtuoso of the 19th century. (The original lieder is usually sang much slower.) After listening to her version, you can’t help but feel the others’ playings are missing some roughness that’s essential to the piece. Kissin certainly took a lot of effort in handling expression and phrasing, and in terms of ‘clarity’, he is the real king of the four. But it’s precisely this attention to details that makes his reading of Der Erlkönig a mediocre one.

There’s one bit in the work where Wang completely trumps the others, and that is the Erlkönig’s theme when he tries to seduce the child. This happens in 1′27” in the video. Mind you, having larger hands, Richter has a lot of advantage playing this passage, which consists of a lot of wide arpeggios for the right hand. In spite of that, it is Wang who managed to handle the balance the sound of two hands perfectly, creating a beautiful and melancholic moment. It may not seem difficult in the video, but that’s partially due to the shooting angle. With Wang’s hands, it must have taken her a lot of pain to achieve the expressiveness and grace in those 20+ seconds.

According to their contract, Wang still has three albums to go with DG. If Der Erlkönig is going to be included in the next one (Hey how about an album featuring only Liszt’s symphonic and opera transcriptions?), expect her to play slower. But I’m sure the Erlkönig’s theme will become even more delicate after all those tours.

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Originally published at http://lawrence.li/blog/2010/08/yuja-wang-erlkoenig/ (link dead)