Niu Niu, born Zhang Shengliang, was a child prodigy who attracted attention early on both in China and the U.S., where he was partly trained. In his early 20s when this album appeared in 2021, he has been signed to the Decca label and is making moves to step into a real starring role. His playing has sometimes been criticized as hard and lacking in subtlety, but his faults become virtues here; the Franz Liszt transcriptions of Beethoven's symphonies, in general, and specifically of the Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, heard here, Niu Niu's performance gives an idea why this transcription would have been the thrill of a lifetime for anyone lucky enough to hear it in Liszt's time. He combines pure technical chops, a full appreciation of the Liszt score's over-the-top qualities, and an urgent pacing that keeps everything moving rapidly forward. There are optional expert-level passages in the score, marked "ossia," and Niu Niu takes these confidently. Niu Niu might even achieve what's promised by the grandiloquent Fate & Hope title and by the Romantic-fashion improvisation that closes out the program. The rest is made up by the Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, and the Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2, and although there is nothing in Niu Niu's readings here that will hang in the mind, the precision and power are impressive. The Liszt Beethoven Fifth, however, will indeed hang in the mind, and there is not the profusion of recordings of this work that there ought to be. Bravo.
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