Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.When Lang Lang came to international notice around the turn of the century, a new era of Asian pianists was predicted. It has taken a while, but that generation has arrived in force. Yuja Wang is at the top of the tree, alongside South Koreans Seong-Jin Cho and Yunchan Lim, to name only the leading contenders.Now here is Mao Fujita, a Japanese pianist in his mid-twenties who has been creating a stir. He has a clutch of recordings to his credit, including a highly praised set of Mozart’s Piano Sonatas, but this latest recording entitled 72 Preludes is his most ambitious so far.With the example of Chopin’s 24 Preludes before them, various composers have produced similar collections. Fujita starts with Chopin, as one might expect, but then offers not Debussy or Rachmaninov, but similar collections of 24 Preludes by Scriabin and the little-known Japanese composer Akio Yashiro.Composed in 1945, when he was only 15, Yashiro’s Preludes view western forebears, such as in pieces marked sarabande, a pair of barcaroles and some Chopinesque tributes, through a Japanese lens. Overall, a stronger variety would have been nice, but Yashiro’s best — such as the touching No 11 and delicately rippling No 18 — are worth getting to know.In the Chopin, the combination of Fujita’s sensibility and a warm, close recording make for an intimate, romantic performance, rather than the chiselled concert-hall virtuosity of a Pollini or Argerich. The same romanticism works well in Scriabin, where there is elasticity to shape the languorous melodies. The ambition of the project has paid off.★★★★☆‘72 Preludes’ is released by Sony Classical
