“Ginastera, Panambí, Piano Concerto No. 2; Juanjo Mena conducting the BBC Philharmonic, with Xiayin Wang, piano (Chandos)”
– Alex Ross / The Rest Is Noise
“Xiayin Wang is jaw-droppingly impressive. She makes music out of even the most jagged phrases, and the BBC Philharmonic outclass all of the recorded competition in both finesse and commitment. I’d always thought of this work as inferior to the more popular First Concerto; this recording has made me seriously reconsider that opinion.”
– Gramophone
“The finale offers a gloss on the last movement of Chopin’s Second Piano Sonata, itself almost dodecaphonic, and under Wang’s fingers both the reference as well as Ginastera’s own characteristic energy project vibrantly. Indeed, the entire work sounds especially convincing in this performance, from the opening variations onwards…They do the composer proud. A fine release.”
– Classics Today 8/10
“Xiayin Wang brilliantly navigates the plethora of notes at high speed and high volume, particularly in the closing Prestissimo (the notes confess that she does use two hands for the scherzo for the left hand alone—II).”
– American Record Guide
“[Xiayin Wang] and Juanjo Mena are entirely on the same page when it comes to bringing this music to life.”
– Fanfare Magazine
“Xiayin Wang’s elegant and sonorous performance of the Second Piano Concerto (1972) will be a surprise for anyone who associates the composer with pianistic bombast. Her crisp, even touch in both the perpetual motion, repeated-note scherzo and the prestissimo triplet finale is remarkable, yet so is her balance of complex chords and gradual pacing in the tread-like build of the slow movement to a crisis point. e first movement is the most dissonant and complex. Succeeding movements are more accessible; textures and sounds fascinate throughout.”
–Infodad
“The new CD also contains a recording of the Second Piano Concerto, with Xiayin Wang – a Chinese soloist who seems to have taken the world by storm, from Costa Rica to Carnegie Hall. A difficult, intensive and technically demanding piece, the Concerto gives the soloist a true challenge, with variations galore, and a vast range of percussive sonorities reminiscent of Bartok– but the whole half-an-hour of its time-span brilliantly brought into one powerful focus, thanks to Juanjo Mena’s conducting and his clear belief in such an unknown masterpiece.”
– Quarterly Review