Lang Lang

[Lewis]

Does anyone have strong views about this pianist ? I haven't made up my mind about him yet.

[Krummhorn]

Hi .. and welcome to MIMF.

Lang Lang seems to be a very dedicated musician, expressing lots of life in his interpretations ... I rather like his overall style.

Here with his Dad at Carnegie Hall:

+ YouTube Video

And another one (at Carnegie) - A solo piece ... Liebestraum

+ YouTube Video

[Lewis]

The world seems divided into love him or hate him factions. He is very theatrical. He has good technique and often plays very fast but again Volodos & Andre-Hamelin have amazing technique.

I think Lang Lang's appeal has much to do with his extrovert personality. He knows how to win over and involve an audience.

Just wondered are there any fans/critics on this forum ....

[Andrew Roussak]

Hi Lewis -

Lang Lang is just a kind of an extraordinary person. He had studied a while ( as far as I know ) in Ettlingen - near Karlsruhe where I live. So he plays the concerts here sometimes. I had never seen him live , but at least one of my students did. Surely his technique is fascinating - but there are so many very accompished pianists today who are far not that famous as Lang Lang. I heard some critiques about him ( concerning one of Beethoven pieces he played ) - the point was , one can not achieve everything with the technique only.

I like, for example, his Dragon Songs, but it is really smth. special. About his concert program - on my opinion, he could only win if he played a little bit more of "modern" composers ( Schostakovich, Ravel, Rachmaninov ) and was not that "public taste" oriented ( Mozart, Schumann ). This is only my opinion. I find, for example, that the concert program of , say, Martin Stadtfeld is more compicated and difficult too learn. Technically, they are both fantastic.

And as usual - it is great deal of PR about him . Lang Lang is for sure a great pianist, but I don't think he is the best of all.

Cheers, Andrew

[wtwt5237]

Lang Lang and Li Yun Di,another Chinese pianist you must be familiar with take on very different styles. Lang Lang is full of energy when playing while Li Yun Di is very composed.
PS: why isn't there any section talking about traditional Chinese music, including folk music from various minorities in China?