'Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?' is American composer John Adams' latest creation for piano, written for - and performed by - Yuja Wang alongside the Los Angeles Philharmonic
The album, which will only initially be available digitally, will be available to download and stream on 17 April.
Written by Adams for Yuja Wang, this Los Angeles Philharmonic commission had its world premiere at Walt Disney Concert Hall in March 2019. The orchestra, Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel and Ms. Wang returned to the iconic venue the following November to make this live recording of a work The New York Times has described as “uneasily fascinating … [a] beautifully disconcerting concerto”.
The inspiration behind this unique new work comes from Liszt, Ligeti, gospel music and more: the opening is marked “Gritty, Funky”, while the third and final section is marked “Obsession/Swing”. As noted by Musical America, the concerto “bristles with a percussive, highly rhythmic, technically fearsome piano part … [and is] an excitable, satisfying, boisterous vehicle for Wang and Dudamel”.
Yuja Wang appeared on the cover of issue 105 of Pianist, which is available to download here.