【專輯名稱】: The American Project
【專輯藝人】: Yujia Wang, Louisville Orchestra
【發行公司】: Deutsche Grammophon
【發行日期】: 2023
【專輯類型】: Classic, Jazz, rock, Latin
【專輯介紹】:
Yuja Wang is the brilliant soloist in a piano concerto by a longtime friend of hers: Teddy Abrams. The music director of the Louisville Orchestra, which he conducts here, describes his virtuosic piece as "an opportunity for the piano to guide us through what I think is one of the strengths of American culture, its plurality, its interconnectedness." Also written for Yuja Wang, the solo piano work "You Come Here Often?" is by another great friend of hers, Michael Tilson Thomas.
Wang, who said in a recent podcast she can pretty much play anything on her instrument, makes good on the claim (it ain’t boasting if it’s true, you know) working her way through nearly 40 minutes of music with nary a break, though admittedly one of the most alluring moments in the work comes about two-thirds of the way through when the orchestra trades licks amongst the guitar, woodwinds, and saxes.
It’s a tip-off that you’re in for something hot when the conductor counts off the piece out loud instead of waving a baton. Immediately the Louisville Orchestra is off to the races with a driving riff that sounds like Henry Mancini might have been listening to ZZ Top’s “La Grange.”
A minute later, Wang’s piano enters and sets up a boogie-woogie solo break, the first of four semi-improvised “cadenzas” that bridge the piece’s sections. Early on, the solo piano hints at themes and riffs to come, while alluding to some of the concerto’s inspirations, including George Gershwin (there are rhythmic hints of “S’Wonderful” and the finale lands on the same chords as “Rhapsody in Blue”).
【專輯曲目】:
01. Michael Tilson Thomas / You Come Here Often? [0:04:33.41]
02. Teddy Abrams / Piano concerto - 1. Overture. Swing [0:02:25.25]
03. Teddy Abrams / Piano concerto - 2. Cadenza I [0:05:29.46]
04. Teddy Abrams / Piano concerto - 3. Exposition [0:02:39.47]
05. Teddy Abrams / Piano concerto - 4. Orchestra Break [0:00:46.69]
06. Teddy Abrams / Piano concerto - 5. Exploration [0:04:56.00]
07. Teddy Abrams / Piano concerto - 6. Cadenza II [0:04:50.38]
08. Teddy Abrams / Piano concerto - 7. Relaxed [0:02:29.40]
09. Teddy Abrams / Piano concerto - 8. Solos [0:05:13.22]
10. Teddy Abrams / Piano concerto - 9. Cadenza III [0:03:39.16]
11. Teddy Abrams / Piano concerto - 10. Return. Swing [0:02:11.00]
12. Teddy Abrams / Piano concerto - 11. Cadenza IV & Coda [0:02:43.40]
Bonus: Yujia Play George Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue