Totentanz, S. 525 (Liszt)

Liszt's Totentanz — a paraphrase on the *Dies irae* plainchant that constitutes one of the most physically extreme works in the piano repertoire — gets from Wang a performance of barely controlled ferocity. The work is essentially a set of variations on one of Western culture's most recognizable fragments of religious music, and Liszt uses it to explore every extreme of dynamic range and technical difficulty: from thunderous octave passages that threaten to break both piano and performer to filigree variations of almost supernatural delicacy. Wang navigates these extremes without the sense of shift that lesser pianists produce — her fortissimo and her pianissimo exist on the same physical continuum, produced by the same technical apparatus at different degrees of engagement. The piece has always carried a whiff of showmanship — it was designed as concert spectacle — but Wang's performance insists on its darker undertow: the *Dies irae* is a text about judgment, and something of that theological severity survives even Liszt's virtuosic transformation.