worst thing I've ever heard!

[imbetter]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru84UVcPHDo

opinions?

[sharon_f]

I've heard a whole lot worse than that on youtube.

[chromatickler]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru84UVcPHDo

opinions?

it made you want to quit piano?

[nicco]

 

[nervous_wreck]

he should just play with his elbows, it'd be easier and he'd get more of the sound he was looking for.

[tocca]

I get the feeling that Lang Lang got to a point in his career when he realised he didn't quite have "it" to reach the very top, so he decided to perform in such a way that he'd stand out from everyone else and get famous by being different!

He obviously have the raw technic skill, and i've heard some really good performances from him, but things like this make me wonder what he is up to?

[molto-marcato]

Strange thing is he is extremely popular and often regarded as a prodigy, at least by the mass media. I haven't heard an outstanding performance of him so far and i don't like his over-interpretations. Maybe he's going to mature somewhat and develop style and beauty in the years to come.

[infectedmushroom]

Sometimes, I think he can be quite funny:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiziGLe1jBw

[elisianna]

I think he's funny =P

Let him do what he wants.  He still has more talent than say, Britney Spears or Paris Hilton and people still like their um...music.

If he is this successful even when some of people think he sucks, then he certainly has accomplished something. =P

[chromatickler]

I get the feeling that Lang Lang got to a point in his career when he realised he didn't quite have "it" to reach the very top

excuse me, but he is already AT the very top.

[gruffalo]

excuse me, but he is already AT the very top.

i think she meant that at some point in his career (further back down the line) he decided to change his tactics in order to find a way through to the top.

[henrah]

I love his Liebestraum No.3 from his Carnegie premiere. He has a wonderful touch.

But I think he's letting the audience control him too much at times, much like in the HR2 video. He plays exaggeratingly fast/slow and loud/quiet for the benefit of the audience, and when he leans back slightly and slowly looks round at the audience when he quietens I think he's just accentuating it so even the least. At least it seems that way.

Y'know, I wonder if there would be any difference in sound if he played without his excessive movements and facial expressions. It would be cool if we could do a test: record him playing a piece, say a chopin nocturne, then record him playing it again and ask him to try his best to not move anything but his arms and hands.

[radmila]

Too much theater, But, I wish I can play this with such an ease as he does!

[elias89]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru84UVcPHDo

opinions?

That's not MUSIC!!
but after getting Barenboim as a teacher Lang Lang has become better.

[dabbler]

I don't like these excessive manierisms either, but if you want to reach the mass media or even the charts with classical music (unfortunately) some kind of showmanship seems to be necessary (e.g. I saw another Youtube video of a TV show in which (also playing HR2) he encouraged the audience to clap hands during his playing). Still, in doing all this show, he can reach people that would otherwise not get in touch with piano music at all. Some of them will go and buy his CDs, and some of those will even get back to a CD store, asking for some other recommendations and may gradually end up becoming addicted to piano music. That's a good thing, after all! (well, and L.L. gets some smart money along the way....)

[inc_kriss]

That's not MUSIC!!
but after getting Barenboim as a teacher Lang Lang has become better.

I totally agree, It's just entertainment but no examination of music.but the video with the orange is quite funny.

A few days ago I told my piano teacher that I think that music should only be listened to with closed eyes, cause in any recital room/hall are so many things that can distract you, and Lang Lang distracts COMPLETELY so that music is getting the background. Well you can also be distracted by our thoughts, but if you have your eyes closed, you have at least one sense turned off

[dnephi]

Perhaps you have not heard Da Comme's attempt at Chopet 1.

Regards,

Dnephi

[henrah]

Who's Da Comme?

[gruffalo]

Who's Da Comme?

at the moment "opus10no2" and also has been known as "stevie" and "comme_le_vent".

and yes, his Chopets are a total disaster.

[pseudopianist]

at the moment "opus10no2" and also has been known as "stevie" and "comme_le_vent".

and yes, his Chopets are a total disaster.

They have their charm I must say.

[ramseytheii]

at the moment "opus10no2" and also has been known as "stevie" and "comme_le_vent".

and yes, his Chopets are a total disaster.

Where can we hear them?  O So curious

Walter Ramsey

[jre58591]

just search for da comme on youtube. you can find his ocean etude rather quickly on there.

[opus10no2]

Be swift, for it is lightspeed that defines us.

[mattgreenecomposer]

I would say its "new music" in general.  People only write atonal noise nowdays that would  kill a plant.  How many piano concerto's are written today that sound like Rach or Grieg or something beautiful.  uhh none?  So I do my little part to keep the old school going.  mattgreenecomposer.com for "new music that won't kill a plant."

[penguinlover]

I don't play nearly that well, so I hesitate to make any criticism.....but I will anyway.  I won't listen to that again.  Maybe it was just a bad recording of it.  Even if you didn't have to watch him, the notes were all muddied up, like he kept the pedal down throughout the piece.  However, I would love to be able to play that piece, and love to have his abilities.

[mikey6]

just search for da comme on youtube. you can find his ocean etude rather quickly on there.

Someone said when an sdc member plays a piece, it doesn't sound like the same piece anymore

[phil13]

I don't care about the mannerisms. They're annoying as hell, but if you don't look at him, you don't have to see them.

However, I do have a few choice words for that "performance".

I have heard that piece played many times, butchered many times, but NEVER like that. What in the world was he thinking? He practically re-wrote the entire Friska, much for the worse. And the disgusting over-exaggeration of the opening...*vomits*

This is, without doubt, the most recklessly terrible interpretation of that rhapsody by a concert performer that I have ever heard- and to think that he has the technique to play it right, but CHOOSES to f*ck it up so badly. And yet, I get the feeling Liszt himself would have liked him for being such a showman. Still, that was absolutely awful. I won't be buying any Lang Lang albums anytime soon.

"new music that won't kill a plant."

That rhapsody was written 160 years ago, and yet the fern five feet behind me just keeled over.

Phil

[pianowolfi]

Hee hee from time to time I come back to this Lang Lang vid and every time I am lmao Don't take that so seriously guys, it's a comedy act. And some people in the audience got that pretty well as I hear He plays Liszt according to the principle of recoil (or backstroke or however this technical term is spelled lol) And the one with the orange is great!!!

[dnephi]

Someone said when an sdc member plays a piece, it doesn't sound like the same piece anymore

The proper quote, (translated), is:
"When a Speed Demon plays a piece, it becomes a whole new piece!"
The response was:
"A piece... of junk!"

"I hit all the notes... plus some extra notes thrown in for good measure."

[steinway43]

Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!! And he gets paid for this??

[numerian]

Imagine if you had never heard this rhapsody before.  What are the melodies?  They whiz by so fast you can't hear them, or they're smothered in rapid-fire chords.  The music gets completely lost in this performance.  There is not even any showmanship here - it is Lang Lang showing off how quickly he can play, perhaps in an exaggerated effort to distinguish himself from everyone else, or maybe approach the way he thinks Liszt would have played this rhapsody.

We have plenty of written accounts of Liszt's playing in his peak during the 1840s, and this is the reverse of Liszt's virtuosity.  He was certainly impressive technically, but the secret to his magnetism on stage was the emotional impact of his performances on the audience.  Lang Lang can dazzle with his technical ability, but he can't possibly approach Liszt in projecting a variety of emotions - or letting the music speak for itself.

It's impossible to consider Lang Lang a serious musician when he pulls stunts like these.

[opus10no2]

It's difficult to take people when they exercise such rampant subjectivity to decry a fabulous pianist, and not just simple say ' presonally, I don't like his interpretation'.

[numerian]

Interpretation of an artist's performance is necessarily a subjective exercise.  Subjectively, I find this particular performance non-musical and a distortion of the composer's intent.  I find Lang Lang's talent extraordinary, and I've heard him in several recitals where he can be exceptionally musical and sensitive.  His Don Juan fantasy is probably the definitive performance of this work.  Let him use these talents on the Hungarian Rhapsody.

[opus10no2]

His liberties and insanity are, for me, appropriate in this piece, and I enjoyed this performance a great deal.

If people enjoy the performance, then saying it is bad is only a subjective opinion, it could only be objectively true if it failed to please a substantial portion of the audience.

[numerian]

Solo piano recitals are always high-wire acts, and audiences like to see pyrotechnics as well as subtle musical interpretations.  But audience tastes change.  Years ago it was a very rare performance that was granted a standing ovation - now it seems almost obligatory for every piano recital.  It's hard to tell what wouldn't please an audience these days.

I'll bet, though, that had Lang Lang used his formidable gifts (which technically are probably unrivaled on the concert scene) in a more musical manner - stricter tempos, more attention to the architecture of the composition, less pedaling, use of cresc. and decresc. rather than abrupt shifts of tone - he would have gotten the same rapturous response from his audience.  That's how he interpreted the Don Juan fantasy, which is why I think no one has ever played it as well as he has.

[opus10no2]

I fail to see why stricter tempos and subtler dynamic shifts = more musicality.

Consider what this music is expressing, also, because Lang Lang obviously gets to what the heart of this piece is about.

His Don Juice is suberb also, I agree there.

[numerian]

By stricter tempos, I mean

a) a tempo where the music can be heard.  In this performance, when Lang Lang begins the dances after the Friska, they are played so quickly you can't really hear them.  Fortunately, we all know the piece so we can invent in our minds what the melody should be if he played it so you could discern it. 

b) consistent tempos.  The dances are played successively at very fast tempos, then suddenly stetched out, then sped up again.  There is no actual tempo to the piece, just fragments of tempos.   Romantic composers in particular will tell you where they want one section or another sped up or slowed down.  Lang Lang ignores all this.  He loses the benefits that a consistent tempo can provide - the chance to let the listener hear how the music is constructed, and an opportunity to build up and release tension.  The only tension in this interpretation comes from hair-raising technical feats.

Consider also that his little candenza passages in the opening are so compressed they become like smudges on a painting.  He seems to play these faster than any other human just because he can, but the music in my view suffers.  I would like to differentiate the notes in these brief candenzas to enjoy them more.  In fact, think how more effective they would be if Lang Lang added some dynamic shading to these ornamentations, played at a speed where you could hear it.

It's not that Lang Lang won't play the Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 at a fast enough tempo to make it enjoyable, but not so fast that it blurs by.  Check out his performance of it on the television program Wetten das..    http://youtube.com/watch?v=E46BW2CvYdU

Here you can actually hear the melodies.  Notice that the audience begins clapping along in fun.  That's great!  But unfortunately, Lang Lang quickly shifts his tempos from section to section and the rhythmic clapping dies out all too soon.  Still, as a performance it is more interesting and musical (to me) than the one in Houston.