Piano Forum

As some of you may recall from many months ago, Lang Lang, recovering from a bad case of tendinitis in his left wrist, had scheduled performances of all five Beethoven piano concertos for this month (May 2019) with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. But shortly after that announcement, in December 2018, "he scaled down his Beethoven concerto challenge to just two performances of the Second, the least heroic of the group." (Los Angeles Times)

Here are some further extracts from that Los Angeles Times article, which reviewed one of those performances:

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...the Sunday afternoon performance of Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto was spectacular, and something people may well be talking about for years. This was not so much Lang Lang returning as Lang Lang arriving. The showmanship he’s famous for remains but now is put to the profound service — that’s right, “profound” and “Lang Lang” no longer make an oxymoron — of making every musical gesture come to life.

The performance made it seem possible that Lang Lang will one day be worthy of mention in the company of Glenn Gould, Vladimir Horowitz and Martha Argerich, the pantheon of pianists of personality, poetry, originality, astonishing virtuosity and enthralling musicality. Lang Lang’s personality, his clownish need for approval, has in the past run interference. The poetry has always been there, but too often submerged. The virtuosity too often felt superficial.

Here, though, everything coalesced. Sure, he gave every bar a special character, the showy attention that purists who always hated him will no doubt bellyache over for as long as social media offers its megaphones.

But joy was the true hallmark of this approach. Lang Lang phrased every small gesture as an observer of the music, not just as a maker. In his monumental first movement cadenza, he went from elegant delicacy to a ferocious, life-affirming intensity. He also played with exquisite sensitivity to the orchestra around him, which allowed Dudamel to turn the performance into a true dialogue.

Beethoven was the winner. In this concerto, which was written first (if published second), a feisty Beethoven muscularized the Mozartean model, a young Turk showing the Viennese public who the next emperor would be, and that is exactly the energy that Lang Lang brought.

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In another L.A. Times piece about this series of concerts, Lang Lang was asked (by email) about his recovery from injury. His response: "Everything is great. My left hand is completely recovered."

Another review (of the May 17 concert), by Henry Schlinger of culturespotla.com:

"Lang Lang, who was originally scheduled to play several concerts, only played two of the second piano concerto because he has been suffering from tendonitis. One couldn’t tell, however. On Sunday, we didn’t hear the flashy, technical wizardry Lang Lang is noted for. Rather, he gave a very introspective performance shining the light on the Beethoven and not on himself. While there are certainly some technically demanding passages, the concerto mostly requires Mozartian clarity and nuance, and, as usual, Dudamel provided a sensitive and understated accompaniment.

"Of course, the audience wasn’t going to allow Lang Lang to leave without an encore and he obliged with an unusual selection: “La Valse d’Amélie” by the French composer Yann Tiersen. The Satie-esque piece is from the French movie Amélie. It was a perfect piece for a pianist suffering from tendonitis and a nice break from the traditional piano encore."

Sources:
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-dudamel-beethoven-piano-concertos-review-20190525-story.html
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-phil-beethoven-piano-concertos-20190520-story.html
https://culturespotla.com/2019/05/review-dudamel-conducts-beethoven-and-haydn-with-lang-lang/