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Did anyone else go to this concert last night?

The program was:
Schumann- Abegg Variations
Haydn- Sonata in C, Hob. XVI:50
Schubert- Wanderer Fantasy
Tan Dun- Eight Memories in Water Color(NY premiere)
Chopin-Nocturne in D-flat Major
Liszt- Don Juan Fantasy

Encores:
Schumann-Traumerei
Duelling Horses-a duet with his father who played a 2-string Chinese instrument called something like arco
Grunfeld-Soiree de Vienne
Liszt-Liebestraume
Sousa/Lang Lang- The Stars and Stripes Forever

I'll write a longer review later today but in general I was somewhat disappointed despite many moments of beautiful playing and a world class technique. I'd say LL's last encore was a microcosm of the whole recital. He chose not to play Horowitz's version of the march but his own version which I found too glitzy and almost tasteless(an attempt to outdo Horowitz?). At the end of what I thought was a beautifully played Traumerei he was leaning backwards at almost 45 degree angle from vertical with his eyes closed(almost as if had fell asleep "dreaming").

Here are some additional observations about LL's debut recital:

In general , I thought LL's movements and facial expressions detracted from his performance. I used to think that all of his movements were completely natural and just an expression of his exhuberance in playing and his love of music but after last night I am not so sure of this. I tend to agree more with others who feel that at last some of his movements are calculated for effect and if this is the case I would feel there is some dishonesty in his playing that I would find unattractive. But I know at least one professional musician who told me that anyone who doesn't like this aspect of LL's playing should close their eyes and just listen.

I enjoyed his performance of the Schumann Abegg Variations, Haydn Sonata, and Chopin Nocturne the best. I felt that in addition to the mnay moment sof extreme bravura he had many moments of beautifully lyrical playing, especially in some pp and even ppp passages(in the Schumann Traumerei, second movement of the Schubert Fantasy, and Liszt Liebestraume for example).The Tan Dun premiere was a minor but easy to listen to contemporary work in my opinion. Some of its movements sounded very derivative of Debussy. LL positively attacked the Liszt Don Juan Fantasy. This reminded me of Kissen's live performances of the Schumann Tocatta and Brahms Paganini Variations.

But his over the top personality was a bit too much for me. His encores were somewhat forced. He had obviously prepared 5 encores and proceeded to play them all without really waiting for the audience to fully invite him to do so. Maybe next time he plays I should take my friend's advice and only listen without looking.

I saw a performance of his on a PBS special on T.V. and also found his physical movements distracting. Personally, the only thing physical I like to watch on a pianist are the hands. His are huge. He did a run of notes all the way down the piano and I thought he must be double-jointed. But he did play beautifully. Maybe closing your eyes is the thing to do when your at his concert.

pdolce

Whats did you think of his musicality?
I haven't heard him live, but I have seen him on video and heard his recordings, and I get the impression that he's doesn't have much musical maturity. Sure, he can hit all the notes of incredibly difficult works, but that does not mean he necessarily reached into their depths. But, perhaps he is different live?

I thought that his musicianship was at a high level although he didn't include that many works of the very highest musical depth on his program. I thought that his Chopin D flat Nocturne was played exquisitely. He has been criticized for his relative lack of musicality by some of his critics and maybe a professional pianist could find more to argue with in this area.

Can you be more sprcific about where you felt he was immature musically?

That's the same program he played in Oxford, OH two weeks ago. I didn't go, but my former teacher was there and said that the Schumann, Haydn, Schubert, and Chopin were, at very best, pedestrian.

I sincerely hope that his fifteen minutes will be up soon.

BTW, the Chinese instrument that his father plays is called the "er hui" (pronounced "air hooWAY")

I agree with Brendan's former teacher: nothing compelling musically, and overrated technically. Also, extremely annoying to watch.

Although I am not at present a big fan of LL, I do not understand how you can say he is overrated technically. I felt he played two of the most technically difficult works in the repertoire, the Schubert Wanderer(Richter once called this *the* most difficult work) and the Don Juan Fantasy with supreme technical skill even if one might disagree with some of his musical ideas. Could you please explain why you feel the way you do?

Brendan: Could you explain more why you and your teacher feel LL is pedestrian. Besides his histrionics what else seems to turn you off to his playing so much?

Wanderer and Don Juan are difficult technically, but there are plenty of people who can handle them. (Many of them students. One of them named Brendan.)

I'm not saying he has a lousy technique. I'm just saying it's nothing special. He somehow has this reputation of having this unsurpassed technique, and I just don't see much evidence of it.

Also, his choice of repertoire is heavily weighted to technical war-horses like the Don Juan Fantasy, and the Wanderer Fantasy - both of which I've seen on senior recital programs. There are literally thousands young people who can play those pieces. Show me someone who can interprate the Schuber B flat sonata well, and I'll be impressed.

As Brendan said, his playing has been described as pedestrian. I would go further, and say his playing coupled with the physical histrionics combine to make his performances vulgar.

Right now he's fooling most of the people most of the time, but that will only last so long.

Well the NY Times review is in,(Someone else will have to post it because I can't remember my ID/password). It was one of the most negative reviews I have read in a very long time. In the very last paragraph (after many negative comments already), the reviewer suggested that LL's management cancel his concerts and recordings for at least until the end of the summer so that LL could attend Malboro and learn how to play.

I thought that the review was so negative it reached the point of being cruel(even if one felt that everything in the review was true). It will be interesting to see how much if any it derails LL's career. He has gotten other positive reviews(sometimes glowingly positive) and won some competitions.

To those posters who commented about many conservatory students being able to play the Schubert Wanderer and Liszt Don Juan: Can all those people really play it with with such technical perfection and apparent ease as LL(I'm just asking, not disagreeing with those posters)?

All I have to say is....ouch.



MUSIC REVIEW | LANG LANG
A Showman Revs Up the Classical Genre
By ANTHONY TOMMASINI

Published: November 10, 2003


There was quite a scene at Carnegie Hall on Friday night for the sold-out recital of the superstar Chinese pianist Lang Lang. A video crew from German television captured images of the expectant crowds entering the hall, and a battery of cameras in the auditorium recorded the event for later broadcast.

Mr. Lang has an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon, and that label has seldom promoted an artist with such unabashed hype. Its full-page ad in the program, showing the smiling young recording star standing as he played a Steinway, read: "The future of classical music has arrived. His name is Lang Lang."

Far from being intimidated by the pressure, Mr. Lang seems to be high on his success. But as on other recent occasions, his playing suggested that success is going to his head. When he first gained attention in the United States in 1999 at 17 he seemed an unformed but musically intuitive pianist with a white-hot, brilliant technique and an exuberant personality. On Friday, though, for all its color, flair and energy, his playing was often incoherent, self-indulgent and slam-bang crass.

Not every musician has to be an intellectually searching artist, but Mr. Lang's head seems to be so full of his own hype that there can't be much room left for analytic thinking. The opening phrase of the first work on his program, the breezy main theme of Schumann's "Abegg" Variations, was promising, played with grace and lovely sound. But in the immediate repeat of that phrase Mr. Lang was already up to his attention-grabbing tricks: coyly prolonging the upbeat, milking the tune emotively, making everything cute. This charming early Schumann work became a series of calculated effects. Passages would disappear for no particular reason into some hazy mist of pianissimos as Mr. Lang, in a trademark mannerism, tilted his head back and looked to the heavens.

Haydn's Sonata in C, No. 50, a work of high spirits and ingenious invention, sounded like some tinkle-tinkle imitation of a Haydn sonata. Mr. Lang certainly brought technical stamina and steely brilliance to Schubert's daunting "Wanderer" Fantasy, which came next. But the performance had scant sense of structure, and for all the driving energy it lacked rhythmic precision. Shouldn't those rippling 16th-note passages in the marchlike opening of the first movement be crisp, rhythmic and thematic, not the sweeping blurs that Mr. Lang made them?

Tan Dun's "Eight Memories in Watercolor" (1978-79), inspired by Chinese folk songs, invites fanciful freedom and imaginative colorations, and Mr. Lang supplied both. He also did well by Chopin's Nocturne in D flat, Op. 27, No. 2, playing at last with expressive simplicity.

But what to say about his account of "Réminiscences de Don Juan," Liszt's demonic and astonishing fantasy on themes from Mozart's "Don Giovanni," which ended the program? It was possible to be awed by the hyperspeed of Mr. Lang's scales, the dexterity of his runs in double-thirds, the arm-blurring frenzy of his octaves. But the performance overall was a percussive and stupefying din.

Most people in the audience shouted with enthusiasm for Mr. Lang. It is hard not to respond to the sheer dynamism and personality of his playing. But if his managers were smart they would cancel his recordings and concerts for at least next summer and get Mr. Lang to the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, where he could spend a couple of months playing chamber works with fine musicians young and old and remember what it means to be a serious performing artist.

I lasted through one encore: Schumann's "Träumerei." It was not easy to hear that wistfully beautiful melody so yanked around. Surely Mr. Lang played many more encores for his adoring fans. But I didn't want to be a party pooper, let alone impede the future of classical music.

The review was not cruel at all. Here's a 21/22 year old kid thinking he can pull the wool over the musical world's eyes with a lot of mannerisms and little musicianship. Like I said before, it looks like he is starting to fool less of the people less of the time.

He should take the reviewer's suggestions to heart, and take some time off performing, and work with some real musicians. Playing 50+ concerts and recitals a year won't do it.

To me the review was cruel becuase it was so negative that under norma circumstances it might be a career ending review. The only other NY Times review I remember as being that negative was the review of David Helgott's performance several years ago.

Makes me question the value of musical performance reviews at all. Even if Lang Lang's physical mannerisms are contrived (who really knows?) people should form their own opinions of the value of a performance. I'm afraid that many will dismiss Lang Lang without having heard him after reading this review.

It would not be a career ending review because LL is pretty established at this point, and has engagements and recordings booked well into the future.
I think the reviewer was reacting to the self indulgence and crassness of his playing.

Question: it seems people are generally dismissive of LL's musicality in his Carnegie Hall performance. I haven't seen him life. Were his other life performances also a "flop" like that? As pianists go, LL seems pretty well-developed already. Is there still hope for him to develop musicality significantly from where he is?

It's "er hu" (pronounced "err hoo" in Mandarin, "yi woo" in Cantonese ). It's Mongolian in origin, absorbed by the Chinese in the early Yuan dynasty and significantly developed/improved in mid-1900's into the form today. Like the Violin has the Viola, Cello, and Double Bass in the family, Er-hu has the Ban-Hu, Gao-Hu, Zhong-Hu, Ge-Hu in the family. See

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~robyeoh/erhu.html

http://www.musicofchina.com/erhu.html

Absolutely. He's only 21, he can very well develop into an artist. He won't, though, if he trys to maintain a huge performing schedule. He played the exact same program in Boston the following night. He owes his audiences more than a fatigued, watered-down performance.

Pollini took some time off after he won the Chopin competition in 1960. He realized he had a great technique, but wanted to develop more as a musician. LL should consider doing something similar.

Thanks, I knew it was something close to that. Two years ago, I went to a Chinese New Year concert and a good portion of the first half was music for solo er hu or er hu and piano. Very colorful sound. The "Yellow River" Concerto was also on the program (which is also a very good piece. The soloist was an older Chinese pianist of some repute; I want to say that he taught at Cleveland?), and it had a few passages in the slow movement where the piano imitated the sound of the er hu.



No way duder, can't do the thirds in tempo.

Put two critics in the same concert hall, the same night, and you'd think they saw/heard different performers...


In recital, Lang Lang conquers Carnegie Hall
The Philadelphia pianist combined charisma and maturity.
By Peter Dobrin
Inquirer Music Critic

For a young pianist, a phenomenon approaching the scale of Horowitz, it's well and good to appear on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, become the coverboy of classical fanzines worldwide, and see your biography published back home in China.

But if what you're looking for is respect, there's nothing like a good old-fashioned recital at Carnegie Hall to carry your real musical intentions far and wide.

In classical shorthand, Friday night's Carnegie Hall solo recital debut by Lang Lang is best referred to as a triumph. Standing ovations. Five encores. Couples exclaiming to each other that they'd never heard anything like it.

It wasn't just the playing, though the Curtis Institute of Music-trained Philadelphian came through with some of the most charismatic pianism being made on Earth right now - similar in some ways to his Verizon Hall debut in May, only with added daring and maturity.

But amassed in Carnegie's large Stern Auditorium were all the markings of an event. No fewer than 10 critics and a crew from 60 Minutes were there to report on the performance. And to make sure the preordained historic moment reverberated beyond one evening, Deutsche Grammophon was on hand to record a CD and DVD.

Good thing Lang Lang delivered. The pianist always does, which is one reason he is one of the most bankable names in classical music. People are won over by his showmanship, even if he has toned down the facial expressions, and his digital flamboyance, which has no function except to engage a visually oriented public. Yet there's something unusual about his manner, a childlike, gee-whiz-I-can't believe-these-notes-are-coming-out-so-fast attitude that is quite appealing.

Lang Lang's positioners know that at 21, he can be marketed as boy-wonder for about another five minutes. The need to navigate the oft-difficult transition to adult musician made this recital's reception critical.

The program was basically the same as the one he brought to Curtis a few weeks ago. I'll put aside the issue of Lang Lang's virtuosity for a moment to bring forth a significant development in his playing: He has more interesting things to say, interpretively, than ever before. Such issues are subjective, and difficult to pinpoint without a composer's score and a stack of historic recordings for everyone to reference. But suffice it to say that Lang Lang is no mere jock. His athleticism was remarkable in Liszt's Réminiscences de Don Juan, a work whose heck-ride of growling chromaticism is so extreme at various points that a clear sense of tonality begins to dissolve. Parts of Schubert's Fantasy in C Major (D. 760), the "Wanderer Fantasy," needed to justify themselves no further than their glossy perfection of sound.

But in the Schubert, as well as in Haydn's Sonata in C Major (Hob. XVI: 50), Lang Lang was a probing and arresting musician. He joined the greats in owning a credible and original interpretation. He smartly avoided being too sentimental in the second movement of the Haydn. And he made a good case for Tan Dun's musical brotherhood with Debussy in the Chinese composer's Eight Memories in Watercolor, (Op. 1, 1978-79).

The encores were Lang Lang's usual - Schumann's Traumerei, a vulgar "Stars and Stripes Forever," and Alfred Grunfeld's hilarious paraphrase (a grotesque, really) on Strauss' Die Fledermaus.

The Grunfeld is in some ways a fairly trashy piece, putting aside everything musical in favor of anything flashy. But the piece serves an important purpose for Lang Lang. It links him with a tradition of piano super-virtuosos; for those who say the era passed its golden age years ago, it presents firm evidence to the contrary in the form of an unlikely arrival born two decades ago in northeast China.

Footnote: The above was from the Philadelphia Inquirer. Lang Lang went to the Curtis Institute of Music, a well-regarded music school around the corner from where I used to live, at Rittenhouse Square, Phila...so he's something of a home-boy.