My wife manages orchestral conductors, so I get to go to quite a lot of concerts. She and I met in 2000, and she saved me from myself, and from the anarchic poverty of an idealistic pianola player. So my experience of attending numerous concerts is relatively new, although I have been to some wonderful ones over the years - Rubinstein, Horowitz, Arrau, Richter, and so on.
We last heard (well, really saw) Lang Lang at the Barbican in London last June, with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Valery Gergiev. They were giving a predominantly Shostakovitch concert, with Lang Lang doing Beethoven 4th in between two symphonies.
During the orchestral introduction, Lang Lang had a look of profound self-importance on his face, and he slowly moved his arms around in the air. I am not talking about little movements close to the keyboard, but his hands were on occasion above the level of his head. The slowness of the movements reminded me of stiff, wooden puppets, as did the slight shake of the head as a new attitude was struck. He was effectively striking the poses of a puppet conductor, but we already had a real conductor in Gergiev. (Not managed by my wife, by the way).
Now maybe, just maybe, some eccentric pianist like Pachmann or Michelangeli could have got away with it, because the illumination of the music would have shone through. But Lang Lang's performance was mechanical and drab. He continued with his gestures throughout the whole work, and I came the nearest I have ever done to walking out of a concert. In fact, I feel I can't walk out, because I am there to support my wife, and our tickets were complimentary, and so I simply lowered my head and closed my eyes.
Lang Lang can certainly play the right notes. So what? Any four-year old can play the right notes on my pianola. What's so ridiculously special about the right notes? To spend years on a piano technique that simply allows one to play like a unthinkingly played pianola is a complete waste of time. You can buy a pianola for $250 on Ebay. The whole point of the piano technique is to allow the performer to interpret the music sensitively. Unfortunately concert audiences have been conditioned in recent years to be impressed mainly by the right notes, and people are hoodwinked by publicity and public reputations. Consequently, Lang Lang was received with rapturous applause.
Now Lang Lang is not a stupid man. He is young, and I would say that no-one really begins to understand even themselves until they are about 30. So in the normal course of events he would have time. Unfortunately, he is already on the world stage, and the mixture of intelligence and youth would seem to have given him a most enormous head. I would dearly love him to start thinking more about interpretation and humility, because he certainly has the technique.
He could turn out to be a wonderful pianist, but at the moment he is heading for being the next Liberace. And not even that, because at least Liberace had a certain greasy charm. A slippery twinkle! Lang Lang's self-importance precludes even a twinkle.
It is my impression that word is getting around the music business that Lang Lang is becoming a caricature of himself. I hope very much that he will read comments like mine, because he still has time to change, and he could be a tremendous asset to the world of piano playing. But if he continues on his present path, his career will eventually suffer. I can't see Gergiev agreeing to work with him again, once any existing commitments have been honoured.