Pinanist Yuja Wang Receives Grammy® Award Nomination for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance for her Rercording Sonatas and Etudes

Twenty-two year old pianist Yuja Wang has been nominated for a Grammy^® Award in the Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without Orchestra) category for her debut recording Sonatas & Etudes. The album, released by Deutsche Grammophon in April 2009, comprises Chopin’s Piano Sonata no. 2 in B flat minor Op. 35 “Funeral March,” Scriabin’s Piano Sonata no. 2 in G sharp minor Op. 19, Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B minor S 178, and Ligeti’s Etude 4 “Fanfares” and Etude 10 “The Sorcerers Apprentice.” Yuja is an exclusive artist for Deutsche Grammophon.

Sonatas & Etudes has been praised as an “extraordinary debut recording” by The New York Times, which added “Ms. Wang offers technically stunning, interpretively compelling accounts of Chopin’s “Funeral March” Sonata and Liszt’s B minor Sonata along with dazzling high-energy performances of Scriabin’s Sonata No. 2 and a pair of Ligeti études.” Gramophone magazine, which named Yuja the Classic FM Gramophone Awards 2009 Young Artist of the Year, also wrote that Yuja’s performance on the recording “suggests a combination of blazing technique and a rare instinct for poetry.” Sonatas & Etudes was also named Best Debut Album of 2009 by International Piano magazine.

Recognized for playing that combines the spontaneity and fearless imagination of youth with the discipline and precision of a mature artist, Yuja is noted for her authority over the most complex technical demands of the repertoire, the depth of her musical insight, as well as her fresh interpretations and graceful, charismatic stage presence. She has been praised for her controlled, prodigious technique and her command of the piano has been described as “astounding” and “superhuman.”

For more information about this and other Grammy nominations visit www.grammy.com.

Yuja Wang: Sonatas & Etudes CD 00289 477 8140

Also available for download

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)

Piano Sonata no. 2 in B flat minor op. 35 [24’24]

1. Grave – Doppio movimento [7’49]

2. Scherzo [6’45]

3. Marche funèbre: Lento [8’21]

4. Finale: Presto [1’29]

György Ligeti (1923–2006)

5. Etude 4: Fanfares [3’40]

Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915)

Piano Sonata no. 2 in G sharp minor op. 19 “Sonate–Fantaisie” [12’20]

6. Andante [8’18]

7. Presto [4’02]

György Ligeti

8. Etude 10: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice [2’15]

Franz Liszt (1811–1886)

Piano Sonata in B minor S 178 [31’13]

9. Lento assai – Allegro energico – Grandioso – Recitativo – [12’24]

10. Andante sostenuto – [7’45]

11. Allegro energico – Andante sostenuto – Lento assai [11’04]