Perfect Happiness
New Focus, 2025
9/10
The composer Nils Vigeland assembles some solo piano selections, where Jing Yang’s fingers illuminate the 4 intimate tracks with unparalleled attention to detail.
The bright spirit of “Piano Sonata” leads with 2 intricate chapters that radiate much beauty and wonder, and “Waltzes and an Ecossaise” follows with an animated presence of dancing keys and firm bouts.
The back half belongs to the 5 minutes of the soft and heartfelt “Mnemosyne”, where the cautiousness builds into frisky progressions, and the title track exits with swift keys, gentle ebbs and even blasts of rumbling ideas.
These selections document Vigeland’s intimate relationship with the piano across 6 decades, and Yang’s incredible performance is both versatile and sensitive, where a wide variety of emotions are spanned.
Travels well with: Reiko Füting- distantViolinSound; New Thread Quartet- Saxifraga