Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Lang Lang--Hurrah!

Agreed, on all counts.

Why don't we just all admit that he's fun to make fun of because it's hard to take someone serious with a name like Lang Lang.

Sorry, but i cannot agree with that. Lang Lang may be plain irritating onstage (he is to me), but he is a heck of a pianist. He is still a virtuoso that has given everything for his art, whether his art is my or your cup of tea.

I saw Katie Perry, who happens to be on the paper DAILY, recently on tv, live show, could only take 10 minutes of it. I was curious as to what she was offering to be getting so much attention.

She can´t sing to save her life, she was out of tune the whole time , way out of tune. Seriously, it was that bad. Audience were still ecstatic.

And Lady Gaga? i managed to hear one of her songs, catchy tune , but c.r.a.p. imho. Then i read this interview wth her, where she said she used to do cocaine, but that she didn't want people to think that coke gives you talent. How stupid is that? Obviously she is probably bright in more than one way, i mean, she's probably the most famous pop star right now. But THAT shows you how little people are happy with these days in terms of music, art ...

Lang Lang may be a sellout, but i wish half the people that enjoy Lady Gaga's bs would actually klisten to LL's erpertoire and enjoy it.

izaldu,
you've completely missed the point.
NOWHERE did I say Lang Lang wasn't a good pianist. To play Don Juan like he does you HAVE to be a virtuoso.
There are thousands of virtuoso pianists who have devoted their lives to their art. Many of them far surpass Lang Lang in every pianistic way. It's not his piano playing that's worth all that money. It's his clown antics, I'm afraid, that sell so hideously well.


If you read my post carefully (not this one), you'll see I give Lang a lot of credit where credit is due. In a world chock FULL of boring pianists who play the notes but nothing else, Langx2 brings performances filled with excitement and contrast.

Katie Perry happens to be INSANELY hot. She is lucky to have an image that clicked with the times.
I too am mystified by many aspects of our culture.

I don't think i misread you, i m just saying that the most irritant, hystrionic and clowny version of LL would still be preferable to Ms. Perry. Even if she learned how to sing. So basically ... we agree.

I guess KP has some kind of talent ... i just cannot see it at all. Because she 's fine looking , sure, but aren't there a million models as good looking as her?

It really bugs me to see people with zero talent getting so much attention. Specially considering there is a lot of people with huge talent that get zero attention.

I think many of Katy Perry's songs are kind of funny. They're all catchy.

Does it bother me that one single song of hers will be seen by more people, will earn more money, and will get more attention than I will ever in my entire life as a classical pianist?

meh... not really. What do you want? Every single professional pianist to be on the top 40?

I don't think L'Homme qui marche I is worth 140 million. I'd probably pay about a thousand bucks for it, depending on what I could scrape together.

It's a weird world. Just do your thing and hope for the best... I guess...

I hear you.

If she makes X mm a year , more power to her.
But i believe art serves a purpose, it makes people more appreciative, sensible ... i do think art makes one a better person. So if you get fed stupid tv, stupid music, and stupid movies only ... well i think you re missing a lot. And worst of all, some of these singers are not only seen as entertainers, just a pretty face that sings ephimeral music, but as role models. That is what scares me.

Or maybe i am just getting old and grumpy!

I only heard a handful of performances by LL but what he did to Rachmaninoff Prelude 23/2 and 23/5 is so terrible I'm not even interested in other things he plays.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7efXmTHlBlU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6Qo6fmMkGE

I actually thought he did a pretty good job with both of those preludes... Of course they're both far too rushed and lacking in majesty and glory, but how can you expect a clown like LL to know about such noble emotions?

He did a wonderful job bringing out the gorgeous inner melodies in both of them. And in the Bb, he manages to bring out the main melody quite well (very difficult due to its strange notation).
No, there are FAR worse Lang Lang offenses on youtube.
such as this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKA65IEPw0Q
look at how he picks his nails right before the octaves.

or this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fnAa4micUg

He is still young. And he is growing up in public, which is an extremely unique position to be in - especially for a classical pianist.

So let him make his immature interpretive mistakes. At least he's taking chances. I'm looking forward to what he'll sound like in 10 or 20 years from now.

that's the thing thought.... he's NOT young. Not anymore. He's pushing 30. He's not going to change much. Why should he when he's pulling in the cash on such an epic scale?

Haochen Zhang is young. Zhang doesn't make 'immature interpretive mistakes'. He was a mature artist at 18. Lang Lang is still playing the clown at 28.

And what a lucrative clown he is.... I believe he's the highest paid pianist since Paderewski.

Who's skill is also debatable.

agreed. Last time I tried to sit through a Paderewski recording, I just couldn't stomach it.
My Polish friends joke about how he was a better pianist than composer, and a much better prime minister than pianist...

30 not young? If he lives to the average of the human life-span, he has decades to go.
I would even consider 40s-50s young for a pianist.

Compare an early Richter recording to a late one.

How about the difference between Gould's Goldberg recordings?

....and if he were in the year 1400 he'd be an old man.
seriously, in a world where many of the greatest pianists made their professional debuts at the age of 13, 30 is kind of late for someone to begin pulling their head out of their....

you're the guy who gives recitals on peyote right?


.....man that is sooooooooo cool. we are kindred spirits, you and I.

I don’t hold strong opinions one way or the other on LL, but those few seconds at 5:02 (and particularly at 5:07) were quite a shock to me when I first saw them a couple of months ago.

It was simply naiveté on my part – I really had bought into the idea that in a full orchestral setting like that the top performers become 'one' with the music and give their all on stage.

Just a fleeting moment of mannerism, but it seemed so disrespectful - disrespectful of the audience, of the orchestra, of the conductor, and most especially of the composer.

I swore I would never watch another bloody LL video again, so the punishment I endured from the above is totally my fault. But even without the visuals, LL's playing is simply not to my taste, and there are none of his CDs in my collection.

I'm sure he didn't think of it that way. With the drumming of the fingers, the look on his face and then the fingernail picking, I might as well have been watching a Bugs Bunny cartoon depiction of the concerto. He was merely clowning again, oblivious to whether or not it insulted the orchestra or conductor. I don't know why you guys let this get under your skin.

Why does everyone get so upset when a musician they don't like becomes famous? Far worse is when someone whose music I like becomes famous because then instead of being able to see that musician perform in a small club and for a few dollars cover charge I can only see them for in a large venue after buying an expensive ticket. Don't get me wrong - I'm happy when a musician whose work I admire is getting recognition and reward but seeing someone play in a large concert hall, or worse yet a stadium is not the same as seeing someone perform up close.

If you don't care much for the music of the big name performers you are lucky - you can save your money and go see someone you like better in a more intimate setting for a fraction of the price.

Oh please, give us a break. Say you are about to launch into the octaves and you discover that you have a hanging fingernail. What is wrong with fixing the offending fingernail before resuming play? How is that disrespectful of the composer?

When I look at the video I just see a guy having fun, enjoying he heck out of the opportunity to play before thousands of adoring fans, for a cool $20 million a year. This is a concert not a funeral.