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Joined: May 2012
Posts: 6,177
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Regardless, don't play for the haters. Play for those who like you, and for yourself. Who cares what the haters think.
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Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 9,395
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Gary Graffman: "Lang Lang has received horrible reviews, and in many different cities. I think part of it comes from a bit of jealousy. When people see that he has 150 concerts every year, at a fee that only some opera divas used to get (or now get), they begin to ask questions, ‘why does he deserve it and not others ?’, ‘why is life so unfair ?’."  Which is utter nonsense. Jealousy as the motivation for bad reviews makes no sense at all, since the reviewers aren't pianists in competition with LL. There is nothing for them to be jealous about. I think there are people of certain personality types that would write a bad review from the point of view that they are jealous FOR their favorites who aren't getting the gigs. I've read posts here where the basher mentioned other, more deserving artists. Do you think reviewers are all above that? Since the bad or mixed reviews I've read of LL's playing are in line with what I've seen of it, I don't see any reason to make up extraneous motivations for them. The reviews and the reality are in synch, IMO.
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Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 283
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Whatsoever is hugely successful is usually doomed to also be hugely criticized. If there are any counter examples of this please share. Most of the great pianists were not hugely criticized IMO, except in the sense that since they played a lot of concerts the number of negative reviews they received in some cases might be high. But the percentages of negative reviews was not so high. If two pianists each get 5 negative reviews but one pianist plays 10 recitals a year and the plays 100, I'd say the second was much more successful with the critics. Most of the greatest pianists were popular with the critics and the public. Perhaps but I think it is harder to tell with historical figures. How they were perceived by the public, how often they were considered overrated, may not be known too well without some historical analysis and even then much is up in the air. Like Bach for instance. His work was considered old fashioned in his day (from what I was told by my music history teacher) and even during the classical period he was not widely appreciated. However, beethoven was apparently a fan. I don't know a great deal of music history but I wonder--were there a lot of people (musicians, namely) dissing the Beatles for writing overly simple, superficial songs? I'm not trying to say the Beatles were either good or bad but they have become canonized at this point. sometimes I can't help but draw parallels between beatlemania and Bieber fever. Sort of a tangent here maybe better suited for a separate thread.
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Joined: Aug 2013
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I know you're not going so far as bach probably more along the lines of richter but is thought the larger point was still worth mentioning
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Joined: May 2001
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Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
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I know you're not going so far as bach probably more along the lines of richter but is thought the larger point was still worth mentioning I think Richter got mostly very good reviews. But he did play a huge number of concerts so the number of his negative or partially negative reviews could be the same as someone who played far fewer concerts.
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Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 9,395
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Yes, people can have a difference of opinion. People forget that at the time, when he was simply a very talented kid who may have had a chance at a career, that he had no box-office! Nobody had heard of him, and nobody would have known to attend any his concerts. And yet, every conductor that he played for - from the most flamboyant to the strictest, and everybody else in between – said, ‘My God, this is one of the biggest talents we’ve heard in years!’.
The way it’s been done for years, when conductors hear a young talent they like, they’ll say, ‘I would like to hear them again in a year’ or ‘I’ll put them in a youth-concert’. But that wasn’t the case with Lang Lang. Every one of these people changed their major programs for the following season to get him in. I had never seen a thing like that in my life! Everybody naturally criticized him for this and for that, but in the end, these people could see through it all; they saw what was really there. Very good point, Mr Graffman. That was a very enjoyable interview. Many thanks to the OP for posting a link to it here. It would have been good had Graffman named those conductors. The way I remember it is that DGG signed up LL to their label and launched a big marketing campaign around him. And around that time, some conductors, most of whom just happened to be signed to that very same label, added him to their roster of soloists. Then, once his fame was established and it was clear he was a major box-office draw, other conductors took him on (or maybe it was mostly the doing of orchestra management). And he left DGG. Interestingly, it seems he often was used as the media-friendly "star" for various gala or benefit concerts, rather than part of the regular subscription series.
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Joined: Feb 2013
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Does anyone want me to contact the senior classical music critic in the U.S. to see if he would be willing to weigh on this subject? I can, if you so desire.
And, don't even think of asking me this person's name or worse writing posts as to who it might be. This is a person of scholarship and distinction, who can significantly add something to the mix.
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Joined: Feb 2013
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My apologies: the text should have read "weigh in."
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Joined: Sep 2007
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OP
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Thank you all for reading and commenting
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Joined: Feb 2010
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Thanks, I always like these interviews
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Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 283
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Does anyone want me to contact the senior classical music critic in the U.S. to see if he would be willing to weigh on this subject? I can, if you so desire.
And, don't even think of asking me this person's name or worse writing posts as to who it might be. This is a person of scholarship and distinction, who can significantly add something to the mix. Sure it could be interesting, though I can't tell what you mean specifically by "the subject" since this thread has gone off in a couple directions.
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 4,331
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A brief clip of Lang Lang at Royal Albert Hall last week (iPhone). Does anyone want me to contact the senior classical music critic in the U.S. to see if he would be willing to weigh on this subject? I can, if you so desire.
And, don't even think of asking me this person's name or worse writing posts as to who it might be. This is a person of scholarship and distinction, who can significantly add something to the mix. "A person of scholarship and distinction". Lang lang, in my opinion, is the most disgusting human being to sit down at a piano, in modern times, and perform in public. He is nothing but a reverse xenophobic clown act, that even Tony Tommasini at the NY Times does not have the guts to put in his place.
In plain English, if he wasn't Chinese, he couldn't get arrested as a serious artist in the classical music world. A person of scholarship and distinction?
Ian Russell
Schiedmayer & Soehne, 1925 Model 14, 140cm
Ibach, 1905 F-IV, 235cm
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 3,398
3000 Post Club Member
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Posts: 3,398 |
Thanks for sharing the interview.
One thing I appreciate about first-class artists is how ready they are to say how gifted other artists are, and to mention specific things that are incredibly wonderful about those artists' playing and history. In other places I often read criticisms of the best pianists in the world that are full of petty put-downs, as if it's just some kind of a mistake that the best are the best, and only that critic is smart enough to see through it!
Heather Reichgott, piano
Working on:
Mel (Mélanie) Bonis - Sevillana, La cathédrale blessée
William Grant Still - Three Visions
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 2,662
2000 Post Club Member
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2000 Post Club Member
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 2,662 |
I've seen both good and bad from Lang Lang. This video is one of the worst I've seen: arbitrary and unmusical phrasing and dynamics, little or no sense of a lyrical line, banging, maniacal tempo changes, playing with arms extended and preventing the use of body weight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTu-ymPFRRIBut in more intimate settings, you also get gems like this Ravel Ma mere l'oye with Argerich. He takes relaxed tempi and certainly gets the flavor and languor of the music. I especially like the Laideronette. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoy0W37sHRs
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 6,746
6000 Post Club Member
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6000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 6,746 |
I think the OP must be related to Lang Lang. All of his interviews involve Lang Lang.
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Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 1,166
1000 Post Club Member
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1000 Post Club Member
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 1,166 |
I think the OP must be related to Lang Lang. All of his interviews involve Lang Lang. maybe........he is Lang Lang!!!
All theory, dear friend, is grey, but the golden tree of life springs ever green.
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