Ryan Wang

Note from Hugh Kerr, Editor of the Edinburgh Music Review

In one of these unforeseen blips that occasionally affect editors, it turns out we had two reviewers at Ryan Wang’s Concert. Here, a little belatedly, is the second review!

Queen’s Hall 18/8/25

 Ryan Wang (piano)

Ryan Wang gave an astonishing account of his progress as one of the world’s great emerging concert pianists to an enthusiastic and sold-out audience at the Queen’s Hall in this recital illuminating many dimensions of Chopin, whose music he has absorbed as his own.

 The first half of the programme was devoted to the fluid, deeply felt and crystalline side of the Polish maestro’s complex personality. The 24 Preludes, Op. 28 (1839) move through every possible shade of emotional colouring over their 40-minute duration. Some last for a few seconds but endure in the memory for a lifetime.

 Ryan Wang from Vancouver, the BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2024 at the age of just 18, played throughout the entire recital without a score, his fingers teasing every melodic nuance, dynamic variation, rhythmic shift and harmonic twist from the assembled notes.

 Just before the Lento in F he took a short pause to re-balance his body. There was delicacy and genuine intensity in his playing, but also a sense of scale and proportion. It was remarkable to behold. Two experienced pianists told me afterwards that it was one of the most extraordinary performances of Chopin they had ever witnessed. The virtuosity, as required, was a given. But it was not the kind of showy over-investment which can mar some technically laudable takes on this material.

 Wang displayed his incredible timing particular in the best known of these Preludes, the Andantino in A, rescuing it from the jaded (and unjustified) feel of a ‘lollipop’ through just the right application of expressiveness.

 The second half of the programme showcased some different sides to Chopin. The Mazurkas, Op. 59 (1845) are more effusively lyrical, moving at a gradually increasing pace from A minor to F sharp minor via A flat. Wang captured the summery dance feel perfectly.

 The Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 35 (1839) is a different proposition altogether. From the same year as the Preludes it is famously moody in places. Here the move towards a more brooding depth, when required, was once again well handled by Wang, whose young spirit and fingers belied an old soul harking back to bring the riches of the past alive in the present.

 The near segue from the opening Grave – Doppio movimento into the scherzo was flawlessly executed. The third of the four movements that make up this piece is the famous funeral march, which can sound rather hackneyed because of its constant parodic use in popular culture. In context it is rubbing up against youthful hope, giving way to the concluding presto finale.

 Frédéric Chopin was much the same age as Ryan Wan when he wrote the eight Variations on ‘Là ci darem la mano’ in B flat, Op. 2, in 1827, based on a duet for the characters Don Giovanni and Zerlina in Mozart's 1787 opera Don Giovanni. With hindsight you can see the young composer in development here, and only a few years away from his flourishing maturity. The result is still eerily masterful. Much the same can and should be said about Wang as a recitalist and interpreter of his Polish hero. A quite remarkable concert that ended with three encores, including a Chopin waltz and the Für Elise ragtime.