Yuja Wang: NPR Music Field Recordings

See more Field Recordings at: On A Chilly Factory Floor, Yuja Wang s Piano Sizzles Chineseborn pianist Yuja Wang isn t one to do anything in half measures. So when we invited her to record a performance in a room at the Steinway Sons piano factory, she showed up in Queens that frigid morning with her A game. The 27yearold ultraglam artist wore one of her trademark dresses, significant stiletto booties and a Gucci fur stole, as well as some wrist warmers as a concession to the temperature. She played a piece that would chop shrinking violets to mulch: Prokofiev s blisteringly difficult Toccata in D minor, Op. 11. Somehow, that combination of bling and brawn in both the music and Wang s approach seemed just right for the factory, where artisans labored nearby over raw materials to fashion beautiful results. ANASTASIA TSIOULCAS Producers: Mito HabeEvans, Anastasia Tsioulcas Videographers: Mit