Susian Wong

The Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak needs no introduction. After having dazzled the opera stage and the discographic world both in duets and solo, she has devoted the whole of her new recording to Mozart.

Inspired by the foggy San Francisco Bay, Long String Instrument master Ellen Fullman and cellist Theresa Wong unfurl elliptical tonal changes and anxiously resonant dissonance that feels like being stranded at the end of the earth.

This is Susan Wong's third album. It was released in 2010 and, according to her label Evosound, was recorded in Geneva, Switzerland with producer Adrien Zerbini and features Spanish guitar maestro and arranger Ignacio Lamas. It was mixed by Yvan Bing (co-producer of Phil Collins new hit album) and mastered by Bernie Grundman in Hollywood, USA.

The Neue Zürcher Zeitung described the Swiss pianist See Siang Wong as a "subtle sound painter". For his atmospheric album "Minore - Piano Concertos No. 20 & No. 24, Adagio K. 540" he has chosen very special works by Mozart. They are the only works composed in minor keys, thus differing greatly from Mozart's major works and shaping the intense character of the album. See Siang Wong says of them, "Mozart's minor works are touching in their depth and individuality.

Popularity seems to rest as much on chance as on merit, for it is difficult to understand why the Turandot Suite has never become a popular repertory piece. It has all the qualities of melodic appeal (its fifth movement quotes Greensleeves), resourceful invention and brilliant orchestral colour that should ensure its popularity. The two Studies, the Sarabande and Cortège, written in preparation for his opera, Doktor Faust, remain the composer’s masterpiece, highly searching and imaginative music that can claim to be profound, as, indeed, can the Berceuse élégiaque. Both performances and recording are very good, and this disc serves as an admirable and inexpensive introduction to a fascinating and underrated master.