Review from Gramophone, Feb.2019

Put simply, Lucas Wong’s piano interpretations of Couperin and Rameau yield nothing to Marcelle Meyer, Alexandre Tharaud or Angela Hewitt for sensitivity and refinement. It doesn’t hurt that Wong has a gorgeously responsive Fazioli Model F308 concert grand at his beck and call, and the instrument showcases his gifts for colour, nuance and tasteful dynamic contrasts. Cogent examples include Wong’s sexily shaped trills in Couperin’s Fourth Prélude, the point and precision of his détaché articulation in Rameau’s ‘Le Lardon’ from the D minor Suite and the way Rameau’s repeated-note passages in the A minor Suite’s Gavotte glide elegantly upwards.

Yet, for all of his pianistic allure, Wong’s interpretations are essentially rooted in his past experiences of this repertoire via the harpsichord. His discreet use of agogics and his mastery of the kind of overlapping finger legato that harpsichordists use in the absence of the sustain pedal are cases in point. You notice these attributes in the Couperin B flat Prélude’s soft scales and quick trills, and in the controlled freedom that Wong brings to the same composer’s passacaglialike B minor Prélude. One might imagine more propulsion at times, such as in the Rameau A minor Suite’s Courante, where Meyer’s vitality and rhythmic backbone prove more incisive and convincing.

But Wong’s attention to detail and clear commitment unquestionably come across, abetted by fine engineering. Recommended. Jed Distler