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| What sits on stage in front of me is not Xuefei Yang. There isn’t even a guitar there. Instead a monster-sized cardboard cut out of a mobile phone with a thick red cross through it. It's slightly more sophisticated than the Orange advert warnings and hopefully just as effective. But there's always one that goes off. |
| Yang emerges from the door on the right, set back in the stage, wearing a dark blue dress and holding her guitar. She has a delicate, almost shy appearance and one wonders what such a woman is capable of. In this case it is someone who can hold a melodic line with such liquid intensity that you're left with serenity singing in your ears. |
| Her performance begins with a slightly more introspective interpretation of Isaac Albeniz's Asturias. Instead of a closing strummed B minor chord, she lets a single note hang intangibly in the air. Yang is only holding back. There is more in reserve and she has instantly won the audience. |
| The programme consists of music from all over the world and from, different periods in time, which is probably why she has been so well received in places like Finland, England and France, the U.S.A and Asia. With pieces like Benjamin Britten's Nocturnal Op.7O, J.S. Bach's Chaconne in D minor and Tarrega's The Carnival of Venice crammed into this one programme you must have incredible versatility to show off so many styles of playing, and at the same time a musical wrapping to give a sense of unity to the programme. |
| Yang does this with the clarity of her phrasing and with a tone that lets pieces play for themselves - so there is perhaps less vibrato, and instead a purer, almost subliminal note, which tells stories you don't know you are listening to. |
| The highlight of the concert was a piece written for Yang by Carlo Domeniconi in 2002 entitled I Ching. Based on the Chinese book of learning, this piece encapsulates an intrinsic part of China's cultural heritage. |
| The closer harmonies and what seems like a shifting structure, with the theme of the piece playing an elusive role, take you on a surreal journey of change, reflecting life's inadequacies and fortes. No more can this be seen than in the juxtaposing high tremolo part and rising and falling bass lines in the middle of the piece. |
| As Yang takes to the stage for her encore pieces, what I predicted comes true. Some poor soul near the front of the stage has had to dive into their coat pockets to turn off the dastardly phone. Oh well, it’s a sign of the times... |
| Xuefei Yang is proving to be one of the great classical guitarists of the day. She has a mastery of the instrument reminiscent of John Williams and a musical tone that leaves larks croaking at the dawn. |
| Yang is not to be missed. |
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| Oliver McGhie |
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