Alexander Scriabin: Piano Sonata No.1 in F minor, Op.6
Sergei Rachmaninov: Piano Sonata No.1 in D minor, Op.28
- Prelude in F major

An impressive debut recording from Chinese pianist Zixiang Wang who holds degrees from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the Juilliard School, and the University of Michigan. And he couldn't have chosen better piano works to display his métier than these two Piano Sonatas written around the turn of the 20th century at the pinnacle of the romantic period.

For the purpose of this review, let's focus on the Piano Sonata No.1 in F minor, Op.6 by Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915). A composer fascinated by mystical philosophy and symbolism who perceived the piano as an extension of himself and could draw incredible harmonies and colors out of the instrument. When playing his music it's not sufficient to play all the right notes and display a solid technique. One has to uncover the innermost anima, the impulse, at the core of the music and bring it to the surface. There's more passionate intensity within the first eight bars of the Allegro con fuoco first movement of his sonata than in many complete sonatas by most other composers. Zixiang Wang's consonance with music from the romantic and post-romantic eras is on display here in the way he 'gets' the essence behind the notes. He doesn't rush through the fast passages simply for the sake of velocity and dazzle, but instead allows enough time, weight and significance for the music to speak. Composers back then did not write down thousands of notes on paper unless they had something to say.

The audio recording is very good despite being a bit close, and some of the piano's upper register keys have a bit of a metallic ping to them, but not enough to be distracting. It will be interesting to follow this pianist's development within his future recording projects.