Argerich_smitten and forgrieg seem to think that other people are bitter about Lang Lang. I think they are only trying to stop people from criticizing Lang Lang.
Argerich_smitten wrote:
[I would agree that there is some jealousy of Lang Lang in the musical community, but I do not think it is because of his technique, musical sensitivity, race, or even anything that has to do with the way he plays the piano.]
My reply:
This is not jealousy. People speaking out against him because they don't want to see classical music being distorted by Lang Lang, they don't want to see Lang Lang promoting weird classical music and to see Lang Lang taking up too much space in this field at the expense of other pianists ( Lang Lang is giving about hundred and fifty concerts a year, even close to two hundred at one time from what I heard).
Most of those concert-goers are not able to tell what is artistic playing and what is not. To them, fast, loud and dazzling playing is good playing, This is especially true in US. Would these people attend other pianists’ concerts after listening to Lang Lang? Probably not. Why attend other pianists’ concerts if they believe they have already heard the best in the world after seeing that CBS 60 minutes program? They may also lack the time and money attending too many concerts. You may like to argue that Lang Lang is promoting classical music and that he is only drawing fresh newcomers to classical music and so other pianists are not affected at al. But can you draw newcomers that easily? If one is seldom exposed to classical music, he won't switch to classical music from pop music that easily. Instead, you often find people switching from classical to pop music easily.
[I think he has a fabulous technique; he plays very efficiently. I referred to his Don Juan video numerous times to analyze his technical solutions in some places I was having difficulty with]
Not that fabulous. Lang Lang is the most over rated pianist I have come across. We need to compare him with performing pianists, not with you. His Don Juan sometimes sounded like a wild cat screaming when he just swept those notes thoughtlessly. You don't notice any emotion coming from Lang Lang's heart when he played this piece and yet quite a lot of people seemed to be very impressed by the way he played. Is classical music merely some dazzling playing?
[Musically, I think he is a bit shallow now. He plays with some musical sensitivity, but his playing strikes me as 'surface playing']
I believe that Lang Lang will never be able to play classical music in the way it should be played. He gives you the impression that he is merely calculating the length of each note instead of playing from his heart ( It's more obvious when he played romantic pieces). For his inability to play from his heart, he just makes it up with his ridiculous facial expression. If one is not born with the ability to understand music, how to expect any insightful playing from such piannist? I haven't been able to enjoy a single piece played by Lang Lang and I have given up listening to him again. I think Lang Lang is polluting classical music.
[At this time in history, a successful career in piano (and many other professions) relies incredibly heavy on the way one markets oneself. ]
We don't want marketing to be done at the expense of us, the consumers, or other pianists. A bad product can sometimes sell very well for a very long time. We, the consumers are certainly the losers. Now that Lang Lang is filthy rich and hence is able to apply all kinds of marketing tactic to promote himself. What about other fresh but more artistic pianists? Will they remain obscure for their whole life simply because they don't have the money to market themselves? Whatever tactic Lang Lang may like to apply, I hope other pianists' lives are not affected.
[ It is not the best playing the world has ever seen]
To say that 'it is not the best playing the world has ever seen’is to mislead people into believing that Lang Lang's playing is closed to the best. We are not expecting the best playing from Lang Lang, but we don't want him to distort classical music. Many Chinese reporters are promoting Lang Lang as a piano genius. I guess this is one of the way one could market oneself? To be called a genius in one particular field, one needs to be reasonably good in that field. Lang Lang doesn't even have musicality which is the basic requirement in the field of classical music, how to call him a genius? Ridiculous! This is the result of Lang Lang's marketing tactic.
Who is going to kill classical music if truly good artistic playing is not given enough attention? This is really what we object to. We criticize not because we are jealous of Lang Lang.