As a bubbly 19-year-old, Yang took second prize in the 2005 Cliburn Competition, and she was an audience favorite. Six years on, she's clearly a virtuoso pianist and one with ideas. She's best in the contemporary works by Sebastian Currier and Lowell Liebermann, supplying real flair as well as diamantine precision.

She's less persuasive in the older repertory. She has fine control of volume, but sometimes goes on rhythmic auto-pilot. Expressive gestures in the Debussy and Schumann feel carefully studied and applied rather than felt, more calculated than organic.

B+