What a trial by fire the graduation recitals are with the pressure building up of many years of study and now the final recital in which those years are compressed into an hour of music making.
Jiali Wang presented a very varied programme in which she could show off the full range of her musicianship and remarkable technical mastery. Three preludes by Duttilleux in which she was able to demonstrate a kaleidoscope of sounds and a use of pedal that could create a desolate atmosphere on which piercingly brittle sounds could burst into congested activity with extraordinary dexterity and clarity. Some diabolical sounds left to vibrate creating a desolate landscape dramatically lived.
Brahms’ dramatic and passionate second sonata burst onto the scene with great temperament and playing of real weight. There was an orchestral sense of colour with Lisztian outbursts of dynamic drive .The Andante on the other hand was a desolate landscape of simple refined beauty interrupted by a Scherzo of rhythmic intensity.A trio of sumptuous beauty that was to reappear at the end, in a stroke of genius on Brahms’ part before, giving the final word to the rhythmic fantasy of the Scherzo. Contrasting moods brilliantly played with an overall shape that gave great strength to this early work .The Finale was played with great understanding gradually growing in intensity and incorporating the Hungarian dance mode of tradition. Any mishaps that might have occurred were covered so professionally and did not impede the full impact of a sonata that is of symphonic proportions.
The Fantasia Bética by De Falla was the final work in her recital.It was written for Artur Rubinstein where the composer wanted to make a character sketch of the great pianist and friend with his volatile romantic nature and showmanship. Jiali played it with a technical bravura and masterly control but also allied to a sense of architectural shape and a scintillating palette of colours.Glissandi and explosive emotions were spread over the keyboard with great authority and passionate involvement but there was also a poetic sensibility to the contrasting intimate vibrating emotions.
Jiali left the stage and came back to play the encore,the last piece on her programme. The delicious ‘Autrefois’ by Chaminade with its beguiling enticing ornaments and Scarlatti drive central episode.It was a favourite of the great pianists of the golden era of piano playing together with the Tausig arrangement of two Scarlatti Sonatas under the title of ‘Pastorale and Capriccio’. Jiali imbued this rarely heard piece with the style and beauty of another age but also with a ‘fingerfertigkeit’ that we had appreciated throughout a recital where her art concealed art.
Chinese concert pianist Jiali Wang is a passionate and accomplished musician with a wide range of experiences performing as a soloist and working with other instrumentalists and composers covering various musical genres. Her infectious enthusiasm of playing with a virtuoso technique and vibrancy has brought her to prestigious venues all over the world such as Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Helsinki Temppeliaukio Rock Church, Netherlands Ruïnekerk Church, Xinghai Symphony Orchestral Hall, New York University Concert Hall, Xiamen Concert Hall, London Regent Hall, among others. In 2023, she received the Edna Bralesford Piano Prize from Royal Academy of Music for graduating with the highest mark.She is currently studying with the emeritus head of keyboard-Prof.Christopher Elton and regularly playing for well-established names such as Yevgeny Sudbin and Steven Osborne. In 2023, she has been nominated as one of the applicants of theVendome Prize Piano Competition in New York 2024.
Jiali began her career by winning the gold award of the Beijing Music Festival Competition, where she gave the prize winner recital in honour of Chinese Piano Music in Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. In 2011, she won the 11th Beijing Xiwang Cup National Piano Competition and was invited to give performances of the same concert series with Lang Lang in Peking University.
Besides the major achievement she has done such as won the Gershwin International Music Competition (US) in 2017, Jiali was also a prize winner of many important national and international competitions, which includes the first prize of Alion Baltic International Piano Competition (Estonia); the first prize of Harbin International Piano Music Festival Competition; Hignly Commended in Chopin International Junior Piano Competition (Russia); In 2022, she won the Harriet Cohen Bach Competitioion and its special Harold Samuel Prize. She was also the winner of First Place of 2022 RAM Piano Duo Competition.
She has also appeared in famous music festivals, as well as having many masterclasses worldwide with maestros such as Professor Arie Vardi, Alexander Toradze, Ian Hobson, Hung-Kuan Chen, Jerome Lowenthal and Oxana. Yablonskaya.
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 