JANUS (Rajung Yang)

Sergei Rachmaninoff
Three Movements from Bach’s Violin Partita in E Major
1 Preludio
2 Gavotte
3 Gigue

Sergei Rachmaninoff
4 O Cease Thy Singing (Ne poi, krasavitsa pri mne)    
   Piano arrangement by Earl Wild

Bela Bartok
Sonata for Piano    
5 Allegro moderato
6 Sostenuto e pesante
7 Allegro molto

Robert Schumann
8 Arabeske, Op. 18

Frederic Chopin
9 Ballade No. 1, Op. 23

Sergei Prokofiev
Sonata No 7, Op. 83
10 Allegro inquieto
11 Andante coloroso
12 Precipitato

Rajung Yang’s prodigious and exuberant talents have been celebrated across the globe, from her native Korea where she earned degrees (BM and MM) at Seoul National University, to the US where she earned degrees (MM and DMA) at the University of Michigan and now serves on the faculty at the University of Idaho, along with concertizing internationally.
In 2007, her career catapulted as she added the Bartok-Kabalevsky-Prokofiev Competition to her already-long list of awards, leading to her Carnegie Hall debut.
A special affinity for the neo-primitive fire of Bartok and Prokofiev led Ms. Yang to envision a CD anchored by sonatas of these composers. Both works maybe described as "new wine in old bottles" as Bartok and Prokofiev fiercely developed new ways to build harmony while retaining traditional architecture to build their forms.
To complete this fascinatingly balanced recording, Rajung Yang offers four more works that also look both to the past and the future, like the title, Janus.