Lang Lang, Superstar, Shows Why at Carnegie Hall

by Howard Aibel, President of New York Concert Review

Lang Lang

Lang Lang gave a phenomenal concert at Carnegie Hall, broadcast live on WQXR on May 29th, 2012. He is without a doubt the most famous pianist in the world, continuing to perform to sold out houses in every city he plays. In 2009, he appeared in Time Magazine’s annual list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. The Year before, more than four billion people saw his performance during the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games, inspiring over 40 million Chinese children to learn to play classical music on the piano. He just received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the Manhattan School of Music in recognition of his extraordinary accomplishments as a musician, educator, and musical ambassador to the world. Lang Lang may very well be the most popular classical musician on the globe, and it isn’t difficult to see why. There was an excitement in the air before the concert began, with a sold out house, including some 120 stage seats. Thankfully, the live broadcast on WQXR is still available by typing in WQXR.org Lang Lang. This was the first time he was performing Bach in Carnegie Hall, and there were video cameras and microphones surrounding the stage; talk about pressure! Yet he played comfortably and intimately, as if in his living room. Oddly, the only noticeable minor slips were in the Gigue of the Bach Partita, where the left hand crosses over the right in a fast tempo. In the slow Sarabande, Lang Lang used rubato to be expressive, but in Baroque music he needs to do this while playing in time, which he did in all the other movements. Still, his playing was much more natural than the Bach of Glenn Gould, who was considered the greatest “Bach Specialist”.

Next on the program was the last sonata of Schubert, written in the year of his death, 1828.   Interestingly, it is in the same key as the Bach Partita (B-flat Major), and it also presents itself with a quiet simplicity. His performance was filled with an abundance of colors, as he has tremendous control over the piano. He defines the epitome of technique: the ability to do anything you want at the instrument. He can play incredibly softly, yet his sound still carries to the last row in the hall. Of course, nobody can please everybody; that was the case with Glenn Gould, Leonard Bernstein, and Daniel Barenboim, but Lang Lang comes close to pleasing most audiences at only 29 years of age. His newfound demeanor has changed his concert attire, his repertoire, and his maturity. That is not to say he doesn’t have to develop more; he still could play with more simplicity and let the music speak for itself. Gary Graffman was Lang Lang’s teacher at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia from the time he was 14 until 19. Mr. Graffman said that Lang Lang sent a DVD performance of all 24 Chopin Etudes when he was 13 or 14 years old! At this Carnegie performance, the Etude in Thirds was so stupendous that it elicited bravos from the audience, which then broke into consistently boisterous applause, which gave him a moment to wipe his brow. He quickly continued with the difficult “Winter Wind Etude”, which was indeed fabulous. As if to prevent more applause, he dove into the last etude, the “Ocean”.

At the conclusion, the audience went wild, jumping to their feet screaming “Bravo!” The first of the two Liszt encores was a Romance in E Minor, which was lovingly performed, and it was followed by “La Campanella,” which was nothing short of stupendous. He could have gone on and on, but the house lights went up, signaling that it was the end to one of the best recitals I have ever heard.

Share
by Howard Aibel  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Live from Lincoln Center/New York Philharmonic in Review

Live from Lincoln Center/New York Philharmonic in Review
Alan Gilbert, conductor
Lang Lang, piano
New Year’s Eve Concert; December 31, 2010
Avery Fisher Hall, telecast on PBS

Lang Lang - Photo Credit: Detlef Schneider

Perhaps as a contribution to the ongoing diplomatic efforts at improving American-Russian relations, the New York Philharmonic’s Music Director Alan Gilbert chose an all-Tchaikovsky program for the Orchestra’s traditional New Year’s Eve concert. It featured a selection from three major genres of the composer’s work: the Polonaise from the opera “Eugene Onegin,” the second act of the ballet “The Nutcracker,” and the first Piano Concerto, with the brilliant, young Chinese pianist Lang Lang as soloist.

Seen on television, it was a wonderfully varied, exciting concert, a bonanza of beguiling melodies, exhilarating dances, exuberant orchestra playing, and superlative pianism. The musicians threw themselves into these repertory favorites with a freshness undimmed by familiarity. The Polonaise had a zestful swing; the “Nutcracker” dances were fascinating for their idiomatic, rhythmic and instrumental diversity. “Nutcracker,” the ballet, had been a ubiquitous presence throughout the Holidays, performed not only–as usual–at the State Theatre by the City Ballet, but also at the Brooklyn Academy by Ballet Theatre. Still, hearing that delightful music played by a great orchestra in full view on a concert stage instead of from a pit was grand.

The Tchaikovsky Concerto is one of Lang Lang’s signature pieces; he first performed it as a boy of 13. He himself feels that his interpretation has deepened his ability to listen to and interact with the orchestra grown more acute and spontaneous. At this performance, he certainly maintained a strong contact with the conductor and the orchestral soloists by looks, gestures, and, less visibly but no less perceptibly, by projecting and telegraphing his musical intentions. Indeed, his immersion in the music was so complete that one got the feeling he became one with it, letting it flow from his head and his heart to his fingertips. The most amazing aspect of his playing is not that he can generate incredible speeds without losing clarity, and huge volumes of sound without losing quality, but that all his excesses – physical, rhythmical, and emotional – are never a showman’s indulgences, but an expression of a genuine, spontaneous response to the music. True, his tempo changes are perhaps too frequent and too drastic, but he makes them sound totally natural. Of course, his liberties demand extraordinary cooperation and sensitivity from conductors and orchestras, but the musicians of the Philharmonic were right with him in fact and spirit. From her seat behind him, concertmistress Sheryl Staples watched him with obvious admiration, her face lighting up with a smile at every felicitous turn of phrase or change of expression. At the end, the ovations went on and on.

Lincoln Center’s live telecasts are its best gift to New Yorkers, especially since it’s housebound and infirm, and the Philharmonic broadcasts offer an extra bonus: the opportunity, denied regular concert goers, to get a frontal view of the conductor. Watching Alan Gilbert in action is a delight: swaying with the rhythm, his face wreathed in smiles, his enjoyment of the music and the gorgeous sounds produced by his players sheds a warm glow over both sides of the footlights. 

Share
by Edith Eisler  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra led by Gustavo Dudamel with featured artists Lang Lang and Yo-Yo Ma

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Carnegie Hall: Stern Auditorium; New York, NY
October 3, 2010

Gustavo Dudamel. Photo Credit Chris Lee

For the Vienna Philharmonic’s last two concerts, the young Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel took over from the veteran Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and a greater contrast can hardly be imagined. Even the seating of the string sections was different: Harnoncourt had the violins on opposite sides of the stage, Dudamel had them side by side. Only a few years ago, Dudamel created a sensation with his extraordinary talent; his amazing youthful accomplishments in his own country and abroad and his meteoric rise to fame culminated in his appointment as the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Music Director last season. He has impressed New York audiences conducting not only his Venezuelan Youth Orchestra (which he has been leading for eleven years and is now replicating in Los Angeles), but also great orchestras like the New York Philharmonic, and his appearances are always eagerly anticipated. The Vienna Philharmonic’s concerts were no exception.

 The three romantic masterpieces on the final program: Brahms’ “Tragic Overture,” Schumann’s Cello Concerto, and Dvorák’s “New World” Symphony, seemed a perfect choice for displaying Dudamel’s boundless energy, exuberance, and involvement. And indeed his performance of the Brahms was full of promise: noble, somber and austere, it struck a fine balance between passion and restraint, intensity and release. There were no extremes of tempo or dynamics, none of the whispering and crashing of the Vienna Philharmonic’s earlier Beethoven program.

 If anyone whispered, it was Yo-Yo Ma in the Schumann. Of all the great cello concertos, this is perhaps the least soloistic; it feels less like a showpiece than a conversation between soloist and orchestra. Emphasizing its intimacy, inwardness, and the poetic, almost spoken quality of its phrasing and melodic rise and fall, Ma interacted closely with the concertmaster and with the principal cellist in their slow movement duet. Unfortunately, his best intentions were defeated by the size of Carnegie Hall; his playing had all its customary beauty, variety and expressiveness, but his tone was often lost in the large space. Nevertheless, he received a standing ovation, and, after embracing the conductor and as many members of the orchestra as he could reach, notably the principal cellist, he returned to play the first movement of Bach’s G-major solo Suite.

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Led by Gustavo Dudamel in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage with featuring artist Lang Lang. Photo Credit - Chris Lee

 

If the Brahms, with its avoidance of exaggeration, had brought out the best in Dudamel, the Dvorák did the opposite. Everything was excessive and overdone. There was no whispering, but plenty of crashing; this must have been the loudest “New World” within memory. The sound was so thick that many important melodic and harmonic details were lost; the build-ups were so precipitous that climaxes were often reached long before their time. The temptation to draw maximal sound from a great orchestra must be irresistible to a conductor, especially a young firebrand; Dudamel seemed to be unleashing the elemental forces of nature. His conducting style is marked by an almost unremitting tension; he seems like a taut wire, physically and emotionally. Conducting from memory, his gestures were angular and stabbing, producing lots of aggressive accents, or large and sweeping, producing great masses of sound. The result was a “New World” Symphony long on drama, intensity and drive, short on lyricism and repose. The audience responded with the sort of screaming associated with rock stars rather than classical conductors; the encore, the Waltz from Bernstein’s Divertimento, was blessedly quiet.

Though it is true that Dvorák’s “American” works were influenced by native American idioms, his own native Czech idiom is never far away; in fact, his music seemed to get increasingly Czech as he became more homesick. If he had lived long enough to hear the words “Going home” later added to the English horn melody in the “New World” Symphony’s slow movement (played beautifully at this concert), he might have felt that they echoed his own sentiments.  

Share
by Edith Eisler  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at The Carnegie Hall Opening Gala

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor
Lang Lang, piano
Carnegie Hall Opening Gala, New York, NY
September 29, 2010

Carnegie Hall opens its 2010-2011 season with a gala benefit concert featuring the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra led by Nikolaus Harnoncourt in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. The all-Beethoven program includes Symphony No. 7 in A Major as well as the Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, featuring guest soloist Lang Lang. Photo Credit: Chris Lee

 

To launch its new season, Carnegie Hall invited the Vienna Philharmonic for four concerts, the first two conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the last two by Gustavo Dudamel. The Opening Night Gala also celebrated the Orchestra’s 101st performance at Carnegie Hall, giving it an especially festive air.  

As is often the case with Gala concerts, the program was very conventional: Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony and first Piano Concerto. The only surprise was that the 80-year-old German-born, Austrian-based maestro had personally selected the 28-year-old Chinese pianist Lang Lang as his soloist, an odd choice that seemed based on an attraction of opposites. But as soon as the music started, it was clear that it was grounded instead in mutual respect and pleasure in working together.  

Harnoncourt is best known for his pioneering work with period-instrument groups, but he has gradually broadened his activities, conducting symphony orchestras and exploring the romantic literature. Using no podium or baton, he exhibited a degree of physical energy and emotional intensity that a man half his age might envy. His Beethoven interpretations seemed to follow traditional lines: respect for structure, dynamics and phrasing; restrained tempi, steady rhythm, and expressiveness without sentimentality. The only exception to this moderation was his penchant for excessive contrast between loud and soft, and for going from whisper to explosion with startling abruptness. In the most forceful moments, the strings sounded positively scratchy, the brass raucous – a distinct departure from the Vienna Philharmonic’s famously pure, mellow tone. Moreover, in Beethoven’s frequent descending two-note figures, Harnoncourt exaggerated the phrasing by dropping the second note to near-inaudibility. The performance’s most pervasive flaw was a lack of orchestral balance, with the winds, especially the brass, consistently overpowering the strings. Though this often happens with today’s orchestras, it came as a surprise here. Generally, though, the playing was as fine as always; intonation, ensemble, and precision were impeccable; every instrumental timbre stood out yet blended into the whole. Concertmaster Rainer Honeck (whose brother Manfred recently became Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony), seemed unusually active, leading with vigorous, assertive motions of his whole body.  

Lang Lang played the Concerto beautifully, with charm and a courtly grace free of the exaggerations which sometimes mark his playing. His legato sang; he brought out inner voices usually ignored; his tone was lovely at every dynamic level and full of subtle colors and nuances. Rhythmically flexible but not erratic, the music was sprightly and rippling in the fast movements , simple and expressive in the slow one. Though he reserved his by now legendary virtuosity only for the cadenza, he received a standing ovation; four eager little girls delivered gorgeous bouquets, which he presented to the three women who have cracked the orchestra’s all-male code, tossing the forth into the wind section. Then came the encore: the Finale of Prokofiev’s Seventh Piano Sonata, a marathon of racing, pounding fingers so wild as to be virtually unrecognizable.

Share
by Edith Eisler  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

New York Philharmonic

New York Philharmonic
Shanghai Symphony Orchestra
Central Park’s Great Lawn; New York
July 13, 2010
 
The Shanghai Symphony

The Shanghai Symphony Photo Credit by Chris Lee

 
 

In an outdoor concert threatened by rain, a New York Philharmonic Parks Concert featuring The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra went on as scheduled and drew thousands of New Yorkers. This important occasion marks the first time that another orchestra has shared a concert with the Philharmonic in Central Park. The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, in an appearance that is helping to promote the World Expo in Shanghai, played the first half—(a reverse of the original plan because of the bad weather)—and played very well indeed. Certainly, the amplification has the ability to hide tonal deficiencies, but microphones cannot hide wrong notes, and there were hardly any blemishes to be found. In addition, the musicians played with immense energy under passionate conductor Long Yu.

Guang Zhao’s composition, “Ode to the Expo”, is a lovely, lush, Neo-Romantic work that served as a crowd-pleaser. The baritone Changyong Liao, singing Rossini’s “Largo al factotum della citta” from “The Barber of Seville”, was absolutely marvelous, and soprano Ying Huang was very appealing in “La ci darem la mano” from “Don Giovanni”. The Chinese piano soloist, Lang Lang–now a household name–transformed Gershwin’s famous “Rhapsody in Blue” into something rather foreign; I could hardly recognize the piece due to extreme exaggerations of tempo and dynamics. All in all, however, this New York Philharmonic venture—adding another orchestra to a concert—is a great idea and should be continued as much as possible. The large audience sprawled across the Great Lawn seemed excited; they even voted (via texting) for Lang Lang to play a Chinese piece as an encore.

The second half brought the New York Philharmonic to the stage, and one could instantly recognize the difference in the wind and brass brilliance and solidity of sound. There was more strength and tonal refinement in the strings as well. The guest conductor, Andrey Boreyko, conducted Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” Polonaise with vigor, and the orchestra played with authority and finesse. Bernstein’s “West Side Story Dances” was another matter, however; because the Philharmonic knew the piece so much better than Maestro Boreyko (he seemed like he had never conducted it), he often stayed out of the way. That is good stylistically (the feel of the work came across authentically), but bad for ensemble because the orchestra needed technical clarity from Boreyko’s beat in tricky spots and didn’t get it. As a result, the orchestra was sometimes imprecise. Ravel’s “Bolero” suffered from early amplification issues such as microphone interference with squeaky high frequencies and warped dynamics. Eventually the problems subsided, but the orchestra lost its focus and went on automatic pilot—despite some fantastic solo playing. Because there were two orchestras and several soloists, there were many logistical issues to deal with. Ultimately, the Philharmonic and another guest orchestra could learn to maneuver through the obstacles. This type of concert is expensive and difficult, but a very worthwhile endeavor because—as many of us know—it has the power to bring people together.

Share
by Anthony Aibel  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY