I hear about various brilliant Chinese pianists quite often, but the ones I’ve listened to myself have failed to stand out IMO. Gary Graffman took Wei Luo under his wing a number of years ago who promised to be the next big thing, and when he let her out for a solo recital in 2016 half of New York was there. More recently I heard about another Wang whose given name I can’t recall - she appeared in the Hamamatsu last year as well - but I don’t particularly remember her playing, either.
All of these have been teenagers when I heard them. Maybe they just need more time…
There’s some truth to the name thing. Remember that chick from the pimp comp who played da DJ at age 16? Her name was Zhang Zuo. Last year one of my friends heard her in da Suisse and she had becummah Zee Zee (diz shameful americanization).
True, I’m hopeless with Asian names - it’s only now the last few months I’ve managed to recall Seong-Jin Cho without googling - but that doesn’t mean I also won’t remember their playing. I guess I’m looking for strong personalities with something to say, or at least stand out craftsmen, but the ones I’ve listened to after Lang & Wang have been fairly forgettable (if by no means bad).
I’ve always remembered the name of Haochen Zhang because I love his playing much more than LL’s.
My experience is that no mattah how difficult da name, I’ll remember it if the playing is really worthwhile.