Lang Lang

[Daniel_piano]

Competitions inthe Arts are of course highly subjective. In any case, I believe the purpose of such competitions is:

- they make the competitors feel special and important
- they make the judges feel special and important
- they make the media feel special and important
- they make the audience feel special and important
- they tell the public, who don't know squat, which CDs to buy and what concerts to attend
- they tell the music directors, who are indifferent, who to invite
- they tell the record companies, which are indifferent, who to offer contracts to
- they tell the agents, who don't know squat, who to promote
- they are good for the local economy
- they are sometimes exciting
- they make good topics on discussion forums
 

There are now pianists movements who promote the theory of beginning and developing a piano career without attending any kind of competition as they believe that piano careers and art should based on cooperation instead of competition
I don't remember the exact reference but I remember they're doing good even without any piano competition attendance

Daniel

[Bacfokievrahms]

Anybody think lang lang's actually a girl or a corpse?

in any case, i haven't seen him play (except for that video somebody put up, he looked pretty ridiculous that was a nice video) but I'm thinking that could be the beginning of the next evolutionary process of performance piano. like think how cool it would be to see a guy playing piano and spinning a basketball on his head and there's some dude in the rafters (possibly the archenemy of the pianist) like lowering and raising a zebra over the pianist trying to distract the pianist's focus and the audience is all like "boooo" whenever that zebra gets within 3 feet of the top of the spinning basketball and the archenemy says something like "what?!" and his attention is all distracted and then he looks down again to like lower the zebra onto the pianist but the pianist isn't there anymore, instead the pianist's up in the rafters and he's playing an even better piano and the archenemy's scared out of his mind.

well what i meant was that the next step could be some kind of physical performance outside of playing the piano (simultaneously done while playing the piano) could be the next development in performance piano.

[galonia]

LOL - very good - but haven't you heard that's what's going to happen?

Well, in case you haven't (and at the risk of starting up something dangerous), here's the link:

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,5463.msg55279.html#msg55279

[Ludvig_Van_Me]

I was just watching  promo video on Lang lang's site and the orchestra's meastro says "he has the ability to tell a story with every 2 notes, there is nothing mechanical about it"

Am I mad or is the exact opposite what hes being accused of!!?

[Alde]

CBS's "60 Minutes" will feature a segment on Lang Lang this Sunday, January 9. It will air all over the United States. Check your local listings for time and channel. In New York, for example, it is at 7PM on Channel 2.

[pies]

­

[meiting]

Right, that is why I admitted that  I was wrong.

So, I am 30% correct but 70% wrong in this year of chicken and dog.

Actually, the Chinese New Year begun on January 25th of 1982. That makes you 6.8% correct and 93.2% wrong.

[BoliverAllmon]

Actually, the Chinese New Year begun on January 25th of 1982. That makes you 6.8% correct and 93.2% wrong.

hey good luck in warsaw.

[jz_rach2]

sigh,,, i'm soo disappointed in him...
he was my idol... he still is
what kind of rubbish is this recording?

[stevie]

sigh,,, i'm soo disappointed in him...
he was my idol... he still is
what kind of rubbish is this recording?

which recording?

[Waldszenen]

Technique 100%

Musicality -50%

[stevie]

Technique 100%

Musicality -50%

Logic - 50%

Ignorance - 100%

[techlogik]

Wow, it is amazing how one person can create so many posts.

All I can say, is that I wish I was as "bad" as Lang.

I would be glad to listen to all the nonsense people are spewing if that were the case.

I love the comments, "His performance was mediocre, and not moving."  In what way exactly was it so?  Please give exact details on feeling and performance...

Anyway, this is getting out of hand.  He must be doing something right and making a ton of money to get this many people angry and have so much controversy.

Cheers

[musicsdarkangel]

I don't have a hate that most do for Lang Lang.

Although I think musically he sucks (and I don't like him very much), I don't want to kill him or anything.


One thing that he's doing that is individual and that I respect is to bring back technical showmanship, like the days of Liszt/Thalberg.


That's cool.


Now, if he only learned to speak through the keys.

[chromatickler]

Now, if he only learned to speak through the keys.

[musicsdarkangel]

 

[Skeptopotamus]

his technique is extremely precise but he is a robot =(  He lacks almost any musicality, and that's just not what I like.  I used to really hate him, but then I saw this video and I like him a bit more as a person now at least =D

https://datazz2.free.fr/longdong_comedic.avi

[Skeptopotamus]

oh also in that movie watch the movements of his hands.  it's pretty ^^

[chromatickler]

his technique is extremely precise but he is a robot =(  He lacks almost any musicality

you are either not very familiar with his playing or have a severe lack of understanding of technique. for your sake i assume the former.

langlang's technical approach to the keyboard is very uncontroled, uneconomical, pro-risk, over-reliant on his superior dexterity, spontaneous often to the point of randomness, and in general demonstrating an abundance of unnecessary variables which serve only to hinder his technical precision. the fact that he manages to play as accurately (which isnt what it should, or could be) as he does is a testament to his raw talent. a robot would certainly not have this type of technique, but rather more like yundi li or michelangeli, where all physical variables are minimized to ensure note accuracy.

and i cant really comment on the musicality part except to take it as proof that such concepts are subjective to the point of irrelevancy.

[stevie]

i find it hilariously ironic that he is considered 'musically robotic', because the only criticism anyone could ever seriosuly level at his is that he is overly emotional.

he clearly loves music, and that comes through in every note he plays, i love him.

[ako]

I am rather ambivalent about him. I neither like his playing nor hate it.  I only think that he can be better and give the audience more than he currently has. There's something about him and his playing that I don't understand. He can play a beautiful line (heard him on TV playing nocturne and live playing Rach 2)  and yet, that beautiful line did not evoke the kind of emotion that I expect something of such beauty should.  It's like I'm getting closer and closer and closer to that emotional climax with each note he's playing but at the end, I am let down...the line did not bring me to where other pianists usually do. And yet, there's nothing wrong with him. The notes were beautiful. Hence my confusion and ambivalence toward him.

LL as a person, he's a bit arrogant. I arrived at this conclusion after reading an interview he gave to the Hong Kong press 2 years ago. He said something to the effect that "some people can win an international competition and remain obscure for the rest of their lives." in reference to his fellow Chinese pianist Yundi Li. I find that comment a bit hard to swallow but I do admire his confidence. LL is a descendant (distant relative) of the royal family of the last dynasty in China (according to the article). I think his confidence/ arrogance? can be understood given his background and what he has achieved so far in his young life. I do hope he can give his audience more though. All that said, it's good to see young pianists from countries not traditionally known for producing international performers making it. 

[chromatickler]

professionally i don't think any living pianist under-25 can operate at his level. He keeps
an international touring schedule of 130 concerts (mostly orchestra engagements) a year playing from a repertoire of 40 concerti (at least 20 of which he plays actively). when you account for traveling time, publicities, interviews and resting time he has no more than a day or so to prepare for each performance. Even more inconceivable is the fact that he can still find time within this schedule to learn new works, the tippett concerto#3 in london earlier this year for example, which he supposedly learnt on the composer's request in 3 days. however, in performance he had to play with the score.

as much as that "obscure competition winner" quote seem to be directed at yundi li, i do not think it was intended as such. yundi li is nowhere near obscure and langlang cannot be stupid enough to believe that. although i have no doubt langlang considers himself a superior pianist. and professionally there is little room for debate. For the past 2 years yundi li has performed THREE concerti in public to the best of my knowledge (liszt1, chopin1, grieg), and out of charity i wont discuss his recital repertoire here.

for my part, i urge all future complaints of langlang be confined to the realm of MUSICALITY.

[greenphase]

well I haven't heard Lang Lang too well to make a huge assumption, but personally I think it's a good thing he's in the music scene...

he's more about performance than probably the musicality, but maybe that's what the music scene needs; more performers. I checked out Lang Lang's website and he's very charismatic and he knows how to be a performer. It kind of evokes the idea of Liberace (bad comparison, but Liberace was also a rather flashy pianist). You might say Lang Lang is considered the Britney Spears of piano?

maybe it's a lesson how you can't only rely on your musical talent, but also your stage presence and there should be more balance between the two...so maybe Lang Lang is a stepping stone to more younger, fresher, and nonetheless talented pianists for the future!

[ako]

Good point.

[shoshin]

Lang Lang could slip in some John Tesh and Yanni pieces and the audiences would eat it up.  You have to understand 99.9% of the audience probably has never touched a piano in their lives.

If Lang Lang makes piano more popular why is everyone complaining? So what he's not a "genius" but he's busting his ass on tour and that's no cakewalk.

[Skeptopotamus]

hahaha so true.  and then pianists like Ian Pace go unheard of because they spend their time getting good instead of showing off.  It's not fair how much this business has to do with publicity and so little to do with art like it should.


(btw if you dont know who ian pace is, he has the world's largest repertoire including complete works of finnissy, and he plays boulez, xenakis, stockhausen, barrett, zimmermann etc)

[chromatickler]

hahaha so true.  and then pianists like Ian Pace go unheard of because they spend their time getting good instead of showing off.  It's not fair how much this business has to do with publicity and so little to do with art like it should.


(btw if you dont know who ian pace is, he has the world's largest repertoire including complete works of finnissy, and he plays boulez, xenakis, stockhausen, barrett, zimmermann etc)

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000063CMF/qid=1123477943/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-4087131-8814262you only need to listen to the very first track to realize that this pianist's technical standard is nowhere near top class. the unevenness of fingering in the simple opening phrase plus the laughably amateurish trill points to an (AT BEST) average technique and most likely below average dexterity. fortunately for this guy, the courage to approximate some clusterchords usually does translate to technique, to the ears of the 'EDUCATED listener' at least.

[Waldszenen]

What really disturbs me is that if you visit his official website and read the guestbook comments, they're all full of comments like "OMGOMGOMGOMG I totally love your playing OMGOMGOMG you're like the best pianist ever I listen to your Tchaikovsky EVERY SINGLE DAY OMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!!!11"

[perfect_pitch]

What really disturbs me is that if you visit his official website and read the guestbook comments, they're all full of comments like "OMGOMGOMGOMG I totally love your playing OMGOMGOMG you're like the best pianist ever I listen to your Tchaikovsky EVERY SINGLE DAY OMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!!!11"

NOW THAT is scary...   probably from people who know f@#$ all about piano playing.

[stevie]

What really disturbs me is that if you visit his official website and read the guestbook comments, they're all full of comments like "OMGOMGOMGOMG I totally love your playing OMGOMGOMG you're like the best pianist ever I listen to your Tchaikovsky EVERY SINGLE DAY OMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!!!11"

i feel alot of love from that site, its a pleasure to read

[fiasco]

He'll be doing the Horowitz version of HR#2 at Carnegie Hall in April...

[stevie]

He'll be doing the Horowitz version of HR#2 at Carnegie Hall in April...

he plays it even better than horowitz did, amazing virtuosity.

[perfect_pitch]

he plays it even better than horowitz did, amazing virtuosity.

I feel I must respond to that...  HAHAHHAAHHAHAHA BARELY!!!!

Lang Lang is a joke, and he is a hack. I will give him credit when he reaches a mature level of performing, but until he reaches that, he is a fake, a fraud and a phony.

He is taking the mickey in playing Piano and is sadly enough becoming a Richard Clayderman.

Lang Lang does not deserve to perform.

[stevie]

 

[chromatickler]

He is taking the mickey in playing Piano and is sadly enough becoming a Richard Clayderman.

i'd love to hear you elaborate on this point

[perfect_pitch]

You'd like me to elaborate??? OK....

Lang Lang is turning the Piano Playing into a Gimmick. Even though he is exposing people to Classical Music, it is a very cheap version of classical music.

Playing and Performing Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody is a work of art... Not some Circus act. He doesn't take performing these pieces seriously. Classical Music are works of art. They should be performed seriously, and prestigiously and given the respect that the composer intended them to have.

If he composes his own songs, then he can butcher the hell out of them and I couldn't give a crap... but when you have a brilliant Concerto (like any of Rachmaninoffs) and you decimate it to a piece that doesn't resemble the same amount of class as it's supposed to have, then you've ruined the piece.

He is a circus act to me... Just to be there and to provide cheap entertainment.

[stevie]

If he composes his own songs

hmmmmm

the hungarian rhapsody no2 is not a serious piece of music, its a fun catchy virtuosic piece, and langlang plays it accordingly in a very FUN way.

the comments you make about his playing of other music is subective too...

[dinosaurtales]

OK.  While I will admit I totally hate performers who "over do" the dramatics - and Lang Lang is one of them.  I will also say that much of classical music is total cheese  - Liszt in particular.  And you can't blame him.  he was a superficial kind of guy, so he wrote superficial music - the Hungarian Rhapsody #2 is one of them. That's not to say I wouldn't love to learn to play it,and I like hearing it.  But it doesn't strike me as "serious" music. Many of the opera transcriptions for piano are cheesy, too. But they still make good recitlal fare.   

[arensky]

I will defend this playboy. (Liszt, not Lang Lang)

Yes in the begining there was the vapid superficial piano monkey, intent on playing louder and faster and better than anyone else and sleeping with every woman in Europe, but even then he was reading philosophy, trying to have deep thoughts, and was torn between the flesh and the spirit. Also, his playing was completely unique and original; he was the first  "modern" pianist.

But then he retired from playing for money so he could really compose music, not just etudes and opera transcriptions. This is the man who wrote the B minor Sonata, Faust Symphony, Dante Symphony, St. Elisabeth and Christus. Some of his music is deliberately anti-virtuostic, some of the Annes de Pelerinage, the Consolations, the Chrstmas Tree Suite. His support and advocacy helped many struggling composers, not just Wagner. Liszt gave away almost every dollar he ever made. And the love of his life; a cigar smoking religious philosopher/excommunicated ex-princess, with no social skills. He could have done a lot better than that, doesn't seem like a very superficial choice.

The reason he didn't marry her was because he had become a lay priest, and could not marry. If he was a smarmy young man, he was sorry about it later. A fascinating man, very contradictory and paradoxical. And a real genius, maybe the most original and innovative musical figure of the 19th Century. Kind of disorganized, and not always able to develop his ideas, but even when he can't there is something important there, and when he can, it's as good as anything else from the period.

Read through the Christmas Tree suite, or some of the Annes de Pelerinage, there's nothing superficial there...

[stevie]

nothing superficial in the trancendental etudes either, in that none of the notes could be left out.

the HR2 isnt profound emotionally, but i wouldnt say it is superficial either....just because it is light-hearted.

[thierry13]

nothing superficial in the trancendental etudes either, in that none of the notes could be left out.

the HR2 isnt profound emotionally, but i wouldnt say it is superficial either....just because it is light-hearted.

It (HR2) asks a lot of excitement. It IS an emotion. So it is emotionally demanding, too. Islamey is easily played boringly, too. Speed is not all, but it helps a lot. Has, I'm sure, many of you know, technical difficulty is a WAY, not an end. That's what many composers of the romantic period tought, anyway...

[stevie]

yep its emotion, and langlang provides that emotion more than any other pinaist in the piece, thats how he pwns.

[perfect_pitch]

hmmmmm

the hungarian rhapsody no2 is not a serious piece of music, its a fun catchy virtuosic piece, and langlang plays it accordingly in a very FUN way.

the comments you make about his playing of other music is subective too...

NO. He plays it a funny way, but he certainly doesn't play it accordingly. He's turned it into a Freak Show. It IS supposed to be Fast and Virtuosic, but what lang Lang does to the piece is Just a joke.

He may play with a lot of emotion, but he's still ruining the piece.

[mephisto]

i find it hilariously ironic that he is considered 'musically robotic', because the only criticism anyone could ever seriosuly level at his is that he is overly emotional.

I haven`t heard enough Lang Lang to ahev an oppinio on him.
 But what you wrote is just false.

This critic gives him 8/10 in one  of his recordings and 2/10 i  another. And he is a very good critic. Just read for you self.

https://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=8566

https://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=7461

-The Mephisto

[dinosaurtales]

There are now pianists movements who promote the theory of beginning and developing a piano career without attending any kind of competition as they believe that piano careers and art should based on cooperation instead of competition
I don't remember the exact reference but I remember they're doing good even without any piano competition attendance

Daniel

ahhhhhhH!

and that's the way it SHOUD be!  That's how my (non-musical) career was built - study hard, work hard, get a rep, get better jobs!  I can't remember which famous pianist - maybe Horowitz - never did competitions - he just played for the 5 people who cared to attend, and gradually the audiences built up. 

If anybody ever hears of one of "these" pianists playing somewhere let me know - I will gladly support the ARTS! We have sporting events for the other stuff!

[dreamplaying]

Lang Lang: A young virtuosi  chinese pianist of the 21th century. Yes he is young, but he does well, He played at Carnegie Hall, recorded for Deustshe Gramophone, and some other things that could rate his name at the same level as some great pianists. But for me the main point is as follows....

He is a nice and a good example of the 21th century pianists. Most of Rusian, European, Asian and American Pianists, let's say the whole world has changed in terms of piano playing, piano has become a speed race. The most young you win a competition the best you are, the sooner you play Rachmaninov concerti the most respected you are. Well this world is full of very good young pianist, virtuosi pianists, but genius, musicianship, colors, and life itself are no longer features of courrent young performers.

[Waldszenen]

Lang Lang: A young virtuosi  chinese pianist of the 21th century. Yes he is young, but he does well, He played at Carnegie Hall, recorded for Deustshe Gramophone, and some other things that could rate his name at the same level as some great pianists. But for me the main point is as follows....

He is a nice and a good example of the 21th century pianists. Most of Rusian, European, Asian and American Pianists, let's say the whole world has changed in terms of piano playing, piano has become a speed race. The most young you win a competition the best you are, the sooner you play Rachmaninov concerti the most respected you are. Well this world is full of very good young pianist, virtuosi pianists, but genius, musicianship, colors, and life itself are no longer features of courrent young performers.

I somewhat agree with the second paragraph.

I think that the decision of recording the Rach 2 with Lang Lang is the single most damaging thing to Deutsche Grammophon's name after deciding to sign him on.

God DG used to be great, with Karajan, Pollini, Horowitz, Gilels, Kremer, Milstein...

[jehangircama]

i know i'm late with this but i finally heard a cd of his and he's GOOD it consists of:
Haydn sonata in E major
Rach sonata no.2 in B flat minor
Brahms six pieces op 118
tchaikowsky dumka and nocturne in C sharp minor
Balakirev Islamey
recorded live at Seiji Ozawa Hall, Tanglewood.

[randmc]

did anyone happen to catch him the hope concert last night????he played chopin concerto in e minor....it was very very good....although i must admit, he is a bit of a clown when he's playing. he kind of reminded me of mozart in amadeus....bouncy character, puts alot of feeling in the songs.

[perfect_pitch]

DG still great shut up man gtb till i rip fr draaaaiiinnnnn gang

SERIOUSLY??? You necro'ed a 17 year old thread to write that... and speaking of that:

gtb till i rip fr draaaaiiinnnnn gang

Are you trying to type while having a stroke or something??? Do you need Emergency help???