I was happy to see that Stephen Greenbank has recommended the Mao Fujita Mozart piano sonata cycle. This has also come my way and will be similarly recommended. Even among the remarkable number of pianists that have come out of South Korea and China over recent decades Fujita stands out. Mozart is a dangerous choice for a young pianist. He could have made a safer choice, like a Beethoven concerto cycle as another superb young Chinese pianist has just done, Haochen Zhang (on BIS) - another highly recommended set of discs.
Like most young pianists he's tackled Rachmaninoff's Third. Unlike most young pianists he's not trying to make the point that he has the virtuosity to play the work. Beneath the notes is a whole layer of insight and deep thinking; it's a very beautifully calibrated performance. If you can get hold of the Rachmaninoff Second he did with Riccardo Chailly at this years Lucerne Festival do - it's a revelation.
There's a whole generation of highly gifted pianists around right now. It's probably the most exciting one since the late 1950s and early 1960s. (Assuming they don't burn out, that is.)
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