Lang Lang - Live At Carnegie Hall (Remastered) Lang Lang

• 1 Applause 00:27
• 2 Abegg Variations, Op.1 08:18
• 3 1. Allegro 05:23
• 4 2. Adagio 07:12
• 5 3. Allegro Molto 02:36
• 6 1. Allegro con fuoco ma non troppo 06:12
• 7 2. Adagio 07:46
• 8 3. Presto 04:46
• 9 4. Allegro 04:08
• 10 1. Missing Moon 02:57
• 11 2. Staccato Beans 01:18
• 12 3. Herdboys Song 01:41
• 13 4. Blue Nun 01:07
• 14 7. Red Wilderness 01:47
• 15 5. Ancient Burial 02:45
• 16 6. Floating Clouds 01:42
• 17 8. Sunrain 01:39
• 18 Nocturne No.8 In D Flat, Op.27 No.2 06:46
• 19 Reminiscences De Don Juan, S.418 (After Mozart) 16:24
• 20 7. Traumerei 04:11
• 21 Horses 02:52
• 22 Liebestraum No.3 In A Flat, S.541 No.3 05:45
• Total Runtime 01:37:42

Info for Lang Lang - Live At Carnegie Hall (Remastered)

Throughout its long and rich history New York's Carnegie Hall and great pianism have been synonymous. One looks back, for instance, on Arthur Rubinstein's 1961 ten-recital marathon, Rudolf Serkin's televised 75th birthday recital, Artur Schnabel's 1935 cycle of the complete Beethoven Sonatas (a tradition Alfred Brendel, Maurizio Pollini and Daniel Barenboim have carried on at the hall in recent seasons). Images of chilly fans waiting overnight in line to buy tickets for Vladimir Horowitz's historic return, or the unprecedented ovation greeting Martha Argerich's first solo appearance in more than 20 years still resonate with music lovers. Many of these occasions, of course, resulted in commercial recordings, including Lang Lang's Carnegie Hall recital debut on November 7, 2003.

Given Lang Lang's swift and steady ascent, one can easily imagine the inevitable pressure on this young artist to deliver the goods in the face of increased scrutiny from colleagues and critics. As it happens, he handles the limelight with confidence and consummate grace. After walking onstage, he took plenty of time to greet a full, appreciative house, acknowledging choice seat and upper balcony patrons with equal consideration. He seemed unfazed by the barrage of dangling microphones and strategically placed state-of-the-art video cameras. Such a scenario would have been unthinkable for the microphone-shy Richter back in 1960.

Either by design or coincidence, Lang Lang's choice of music and mode of presentation both asserted his own 21st-century sensibility and paid homage to his pianistic precedents and mentors. His opening selection, Schumann's 'Abegg' Variations, figured in Yevgeny Kissin's 1990 Carnegie debut, while Haydn's C major Sonata appeared twice during Sviatoslav Richter's celebrated five-concert Carnegie debut run in 1960. And it's not insignificant that Lang Lang closed the first half of his program with Schubert's 'Wanderer' Fantasy, which was the very first work his teacher at the Curtis Institute, Gary Graffman, recorded back in 1955.

At the piano, Lang Lang's body language communicates as clearly as his words; one can infer the organic connection between his circular arm movements and the music. He usually takes his time before launching into each selection, with hands positioned above the keyboard as if preparing for a rigorous, concentrated session of Tai Chi. This accounts not only for the remarkable power and speed of his double notes and octaves (as you readily hear in Liszt's Réminiscences de Don Juan), but also the delicacy, nuance, control and ravishing tone colors he obtains in softer passages.

These qualities particularly manifest themselves in Tan Dun's evocative, impressionistic Eight Memories in Watercolor, which were inspired by the folksongs and culture of the composer's early childhood, recalling an era when the violence of the Cultural Revolution was ebbing and Western music would no longer be banned. Lang Lang's sensitive, idiomatic performance, if nothing else, exemplifies the pianist's heartfelt affinity for his native country's artistic heritage. (Small wonder that for the concert's second half Lang Lang exchanged conventional concert tails for a traditional Chinese red shirt.)

Likewise, the encores are emblematic of Lang Lang's past, present and future. He brought out his father, Guo-ren Lang, a professional performer of the erhu, a traditional Chinese bowed instrument, for Two Horses, an erhu/piano duet that bristles with spirited, affectionate interplay. Schumann's evergreen Träumerei, of course, is forever associated with Vladimir Horowitz (Graffman's teacher and Lang Lang's 'grandteacher'), but every pianist owns Liszt's Liebestraum No. 3, a work that is either overplayed or taken for granted. Moments like these are better experienced than described. Hear for yourself.

„Thrilling? Yes . . . he's extremely gifted.“ (Jed Distler, BBC Music Magazine)

„There is some really fine music making going on here, offering evidence of both a big technique and a big heart behind the flashing finger work . . . The range of repertoire here . . . is as impressive as the technical ease with which Lang Lang plays it all, sounding as fresh by the evening's end as he does at its opening. . . an artist with the potential to do great things.“ (David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com)

„Lang Lang plays with sensational cleanliness, often at outrageously high speeds, making even the opaque textures of Schumann's 'Abegg Variations' glitter iridescently. His command in Liszt's demonic 'Don Juan Fantasy' is jaw-dropping, his Haydn immaculate . . . Phenomenal playing . . .“ (Julian Haylock, Classic FM, London)

„Lang is an enormously gifted and vital young performer, and his immense popularity . . . can only boost appreciation of classical music . . . the virtue of the playing here [are]: the uncramped virtuosity (few performances of 'Réminiscences de Don Juan' are quite so heedless of its technical dangers), the often stunning clarity of his textures and his passagework, the variety of his articulation, is astonishing), the sensual beauty of his tone (which pays high dividends in the more impressionistic panels in Tan Dun's folk-inspired series), and his interpretive daring, his willingness to play with the music. Lang is not, in other words, just another hotshot, and it's hard to imagine any music-lover who won't reap immeasurable pleasures from these discs: whether from the energetic bounce with which he launches the 'Wanderer', the giddy wit of the third of the Schumann variations . . . , the searing glissandos in the 'Réminiscences', or the cultured fluency of the seventh of the Tan Dun miniatures . . . the piano tones is conveyed well.“ (Peter J. Rabinowitz, Fanfare)

Lang Lang, piano

Digitally remastered

No biography found.

Booklet for Lang Lang - Live At Carnegie Hall (Remastered)