Lang Lang's LvB PC #1 and 4

[Bonehelm]

This is not a joke, as much as it could be when talking about this controversial pianist, but what are everyone's honest opinion on the recording? It's on DG, the one David Hurwitz gave a 8 on classicstoday.com.

I thought the sonics were rich and glorious, but the playing a bit over-the-top (drastically exaggerated dynamics and crescendos for example) but that isn't unexpected since were talking about Bang Bang...that said, his playing isn't horrible all the time either. He could be very delicate and gentle (as heard in the 2nd movement), but also playing with "extraordinary intensity" (an American reviewer, forgot who) when the piece asks for it.

[ragman1970]

I have heard parts in the radio and still remain in my opinion about this guy!
To ignore him is no fault.

Have heard as well his Scriabin and it was painfull!

[Holden]

Bang Bang has no idea whatsoever about how to play Beethoven. This is borne out in the masterclass he had with Daniel Barenboim that appears as part of DB's 32 Ps DVD. (I saw it on Youtube). In fact, he appears to have no idea how to really play anybody well so it puzzles me that he has been pushed to the forefront of DGs artists. I heard better talent and technique at the last SIPC and the winner, John Chen, was superb and an immensely better musician than LL. To reverse a quote made by Schnabel's teacher - "LL might be a pianist but he'll never be a musician!"

[Rabin_Fan]

Lang Lang is no musician or pianist - He is Ugh Ugh. People at DG who sign him are deaf and also have made him ultra Proud Proud.

[kenstin]

I think there is a lot of racism going on here. I think Lang Lang is a top notch pianist as well as an excellent musician.  He, like Glenn Gould, doesn't refrain from doing things as he feels them. How refreshing not to have to hear something thats already been done  thousands of times another time the same way.  The Beethoven disc has some thrilling moments. Which is more than I've heard in a lot of other recordings of this music. By the way I'm not Chinese.

[mahlertitan]

I think there is a lot of racism going on here. I think Lang Lang is a top notch pianist as well as an excellent musician.  He, like Glenn Gould, doesn't refrain from doing things as he feels them. How refreshing not to have to hear something thats already been done  thousands of times another time the same way.  The Beethoven disc has some thrilling moments. Which is more than I've heard in a lot of other recordings of this music. By the way I'm not Chinese.

Racism? you must be joking, there is no racism in music! never has been, and never will be.

well, unless you are talking about Wiener Philharmoniker, in that case....

[Gurn Blanston]

I think there is a lot of racism going on here.

I don't think so, not a bit of it. My experience with people rating pianists here and elsewhere is that they rate what they hear, not who is playing it. I don't personally give a half a damn about whether LL is Chinese or Martian. His playing that I have heard has all been OTT. It works in Liszt, not in Beethoven.

[mahlertitan]

well, some people love the guy, while some hate him with passion! maybe he should just stick to Mozart, it's safer that way....

[Kullervo]

Just a note: "Lang Lang" doesn't rhyme with "Bang Bang" unless you have some strange accent.

[Renfield]

Just a note: "Lang Lang" doesn't rhyme with "Bang Bang" unless you have some strange accent.

Hush... They haven't realised yet.

About Lang Lang: I like him. I absolutely do not consider him the best pianist alive, and I am the first to acknowledge that he's still to get a grasp of the more "intellectual" part of the repertory (i.e. most of it).

But he is still a very gifted musician, very young, and very promising (to my eyes/ears). I'm more waiting to see how he evolves, at the moment. Who knows? Though the specific recording under discussion I haven't listened to, yet: I'm waiting for Gramophone.

(And in case you're wondering, my favourite pianist is probably Edwin Fischer, or Wilhelm Kempff. So I'm not one of the "whoooooa look at him play" sort of people, not really...)

[mahlertitan]

who cares if Lang Lang rhyme with anything, his name is weird enough already.

[Holden]

I think there is a lot of racism going on here. I think Lang Lang is a top notch pianist as well as an excellent musician.  He, like Glenn Gould, doesn't refrain from doing things as he feels them. How refreshing not to have to hear something thats already been done  thousands of times another time the same way.  The Beethoven disc has some thrilling moments. Which is more than I've heard in a lot of other recordings of this music. By the way I'm not Chinese.

This is nothing to do with racism, it's all about having a mediocre musician who happens to be very photogenic foisted on us by the recording moguls. When you hear some of the current young pianists out there who are struggling to make a recording career and compare both their technical skill and their musicianship with Lang Lang you just have to wonder where the classical music industry is going. At Lang Lang's age the likes of Horowitz, Rubinstein, Hofman, Rachmaninov, Cortot, Gilels, Richter, etc, were already feted as great pianists and rightfully so. Would you mention Lang Lang in the same breath? These guys were already great and this man is struggling to produce much more than bravura works. Let's see where LL is in 10 years time.

[bhodges]

Although I have not heard this recording, I have heard Lang Lang live twice, first in Chopin's First Piano Concerto (with Maazel and the NYPO) and then in Beethoven's First, and I was quite impressed each time.  The Chopin is not a fave (love the solo piano works but not the piano concertos) but he found plenty of poetry in it, and already some of his distracting movements had been tamed.  About a year later when he did the Beethoven (with Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra), he was even more focused, and there was no doubt about the brilliance of his playing.  And much of his impact came in soft sections.

I think he's the real deal, and will be interested to see where he applies his talents.  I hope he finds some contemporary music that interests him, too.

--Bruce

[Mark]

Just a note: "Lang Lang" doesn't rhyme with "Bang Bang" unless you have some strange accent.

Unless you take into account that his name is an 'eye-rhyme' with Bang Bang, which I suspect is how the insult began.

[Don]

Regardless of Lang Lang's level of talent, he's been given the *star* treatment without any evidence to back it up.  The most recent recording I heard from him is his rendition of Schumann's Kinderszenen which was entirely forgettable.  I prefer Yundi Li, although he also has more headlines than his accomplishments warrant.  Superb marketing doesn't change the fact that neither pianist has yet to rise to the top.

[Rabin_Fan]

I think Yundi Li is relatively better than Lang Lang who approach is OTT and not reverential towards the composers he plays. I have seen Li & Lang Lang live.  He is just a show-off, unlike some-one like Kavakos (on the violin) who has one of the best violin techniques of the living generation but services the music very well.

Like the late HvK used to say, we do not care about creed, kind, religion, Prix de Rome, etc. So long as the fella came from Mars & has rhythm, technique, musical and is of top-star quality - he'll accept the fella into the BPO.

I am Malaysian (Chinese).

[Renfield]

He is just a show-off, unlike some-one like Kavakos (on the violin) who has one of the best violin techniques of the living generation but services the music very well.

Kavakos' skills, however, have managed to "calcify", over the years. Or at least that was my impression when I heard him live a few months ago. He will, however, be playing the Sibelius with Gergiev and the LSO, this season. So perhaps I'll get to directly compare the "present" Kavakos to the artist he was when he recorded the piece, 15 or so years ago...

About Yund Li, I can say little, as I haven't heard him play. But I am still thinking it's a bit naive to think every single great artist must follow a course, part of which is that in age X, he should be able to play Y and Z with a specific amount of "depth".

We are all individuals, after all; even "archetype" theories only go so far.

[Rabin_Fan]

Give me Volodos (even on his off-day) anytime over Lang Lang (on his best day).

[Bonehelm]

I agree that members here, like the critics sitting in their offices, don't appreciate Lang Lang's playing not because of his ethnicity, it's simply because he is too immature and too showy to be a real musician. So racism doesn't have anything to do with LL's haters.

One thing we can all agree upon though, is that LL has superb technique; and that he can kick about all GMG members' asses in pure showmanship.

[BachQ]

*** I have heard Lang Lang live twice .... and I was quite impressed each time. 

***

--Bruce

It's O.K. to be wrong, Bruce .........