Monica, your review is spot-on. I have to say I am a big fan of Lang Lang now. He changed
my mind about Debussy. His on-stage "antics" are extremely entertaining and I think help to
point out the things he thinks is important. I have watched many videos of him on youtube
and I have to say that yesterday he played at a maturity level far beyond anything I've
seen from him before.

I do think there was another encore coming but he waited too long to come back out.
Usually when it's really over the lights go up and the stage door closes, but the lights were
still low and the door was still open when the audience gave up clapping and left

Did you wait around for his autograph? I did and it was fun to see all the young Chinese
girls swooning over him. Many of them were passing him notes and inviting him to parties
or to come play at their schools. He was very responsive to them too, very modest and nice.

No. I was with my husband and my parents, and they all wanted to go out for dinner.

Did you get his autograph?

You know when you're driving on the highway, and there's been a crash of some sort? And all of a sudden, traffic grinds to a halt because everybody who passes by has to slow down and watch?

Well... that's what I think of Lang Lang.

He's really just a bad car accident. And it's so hard to just close your eyes and listen, because you are too fascinated/horrified by his stage presence.

Though... I did try closing my eyes through a few youtube videos (turned off the monitor!) and I can say that I don't think he really is as good a pianist as some claim him to be. I think it's all just hype from his stage excitement.

And this video amuses me to no end: http://youtube.com/watch?v=u6LcbKNMIC0

Chris M – You have to get over this facial expression and gestures thing, as it’s getting old and boring. But since you are still very young, it’s no surprise that you would have such a puerile opinion of Lang Lang’s playing.

If you would do as you yourself suggest - turn off the monitor and just listen to some of his pieces, you would hear that he can play as well as all the rest of the professionals when he wants to. On that stupid Youtube video that you posted, I recognized some of the clips from the shirt he was wearing and know that the piece he was playing at that time was Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 27, no. 2. If you bother to actually listen to it, you can hear how surreal, how incredibly sublime he plays it. I think it is a perfect rendition in every way. And as bclever mentioned about his performance of the Debussy pieces yesterday – his playing was beautiful and could not have been better performed by anyone.

I admit that I don’t like what Lang Lang does with his face all the time, either, but you cannot say that he is a bad player. That is a derisive statement and people who say things like this sound like they are jealous and sorry that they can’t play as well. Yes, he has some unflattering performances and unfortunately for him, he lives in this Youtube age where everything he does can be documented and viewed by everyone. But he will grow up and probably tire of his ‘showboating’. No doubt he will also continue to develop his talent.

I think he deserves more respect, and you need to open your mind and get off the LL-bashing bandwagon. It's unbecoming.

I don't particularly care if whether or not it's becoming to bash Lang Lang.

I have listened to some of his music, and I have tried to not look... and I don't get the same experience that I do when listening to Horowitz, Argerich, Rubenstein, or Ashkenazy, to name a few.

And I certianly feel that I can say he's a bad player... just like I could say that Richter has little to no emotional output, or that Andrei Gavriolv plays Rachmaninoff's moments musicaux like a bull in a china shop. It's all highly subjective, if you ask me.

I'd much perfer to hear Pollini playing some Debussy, and providing the audience with real emotional output, and a becoming stage presence.

Lang Lang simply annoys me in many regards. As do a number of pianists/composers/conductors. I reserve my intense dislike for more than just him. Many others cannot be sparred my attacks. It's just that I haven't gotten around to doing the attacking yet

I saw Pollini play in concert less than a year ago. He played several Debussy preludes too, and yes – he played them well. But so did Lang Lang yesterday. Pollini also played a couple Chopin nocturnes, one being the 27/2 (the one I mentioned in my last post). In the concert, he played so well, I nearly cried. But Lang Lang’s version of it on youtube does the same thing to me. It’s perfect. And although I consider Pollini to be outstanding, I’m not totally crazy about his latest CD of all the Chopin nocturnes. He plays most of them much too fast (he didn’t play them that fast in concert). That’s why I say you should try to open your mind. Performers can play repertoire much differently in different situations and you shouldn’t judge Lang Lang only by what you see on the internet.

I did get his autograph, and so did my grilfriend right before me. Last night when I compared
the two signatures there is almost no similarity at all. Just some scribbles which may or may
not be chinese characters. No one would ever believe me that they're the real thing.

I know, LL can reach the sublime extremes of pianism as well as the heights of buffoonery. One half of me loves him, the other is revolted.

I saw him live just once; unfortunately, I saw the Pierrot.

I like Lang Lang for his goofyness and because he acts like a clown.

Here's a quote from the PS main page:



That's exactly what Lang Lang is doing. He's an amazing virtuoso, and even though I really dislike most of his performances, he still attracts new people to classical music. The only downside is that most people will think every other pianist should 'rape' classical music like Lang Lang does. But then again, who cares! If people like it the way he plays it then he should just keep doing it. I prefer listening to Yundi Li or Rubinstein, but others may dislike these pianists.



The same goes for Hyek-Lim. He looks plain silly whenever he plays, but it sounds quite good.

I'd still pick Lang Lang over Cziffra or Horowitz any day, as I absolutely hate those two pianists. Many people consider them to be great pianists, and that doesn't really bother me; it's their choice.

I have to say I'm not much of a Lang Lang fan. But it brings up his book, "Journey of 1,000 Miles: My Story". I notice Amazon has marked it way down to $16.47U.S., nearly half-price. Has anyone here read it? Should I buy it or save my money?

Sorry, David. I'm a bit late with a response.

I just finished reading this book and I'm glad I did. The early years of Lang Lang's story is especially amazing. His upbringing was the most difficult one can imagine, and his father was unbelievable tough on him. The book is well-written and I thought very interesting. I think those who hold negative opinions of Lang Lang may feel a bit differently about him after they read this book. Maybe it will not change their mind about his playing, but it will certainly shed some light on why he plays the way he does. Plus, we learn about his having a sort of tendonitis flair-up, and also his kindness and generosity in wanting to teach young people to appreciate classical music.

So, I think you'll enjoy the book - unless you've already read it?

Never mind all of this stage antics crap. The truth is, I don't like the way he plays. He isn't very polished at all, and there is seldom any ingenuity of any sort in his interpretations. He has a solid technique, but really lacks poise. "Raping" classical music to bring it to the masses is not bringing classical music at all to people. All Lang Lang does is entertain high school students, who are only familiar with the idea of relative minors and the different minors scales. why would I choose to subject myself to Lang Lang because of his idea of making the real music more easy to latch on to when i can listen to a 75 year old Horowitz playing something as sentimental as Rach's third or Medtner's sonata's?

This is interesting reading these comments about all these great pianists, LL, Hamelin, Pollini etc I'll have to chime in sometime.

That youtube video with the nocturne also changed my mind about Lang Lang. Obviously, if he wants to he can drop all that clownish showman stuff and just give an incredible performance.