Janos Gereben

In the world of maestros with titanic egos, Pocket Opera’s Donald Pippin is a heartwarming exception. He is self-effacing, even humble. To a fault. Considering his accomplishments, all that modesty seems downright excessive.

The transformation in the title of Yuja Wang's latest recording does not refer to her playing. Just as in her recitals and appearances with orchestras — more than a hundred each year — she sounds powerful but never loud, brilliant without arrogance, and always, always serving the music first, eliminating all the superficial stuff that so often plagues pianists.

As someone coming from that neck of the woods, I will walk the plank with this about Eastern Europe: Notwithstanding the many splendid composers of the region, it has not done well as a source of great operas.