After two adventurous solo recitals, the gifted young Chinese pianist plunges into the mainstream with Rachmaninov’s Second Concerto and his Paganini Variations. She gives us lots of filigree play and brilliantly clear articulation, but I don’t hear her heart beating much, even in the concerto’s slow movement, and the Variations need more swashbuckling. Polished playing from Claudio Abbado’s Mahler Chamber Orchestra only increases the feel of a class act not quite at boiling point.
(Deutsche Grammophon; out now)