Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 4
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Free Music Notes for Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 4
Free Music Review: 5 star technique, 3 star soul
Hit: 3 Stars
It's no different with classical than it is with any other discipline - if all you do is play the notes, you will achieve a certain technical finesse and mastery, but it will never go someplace other unless it's in your soul that the music disturbs you. And that is never more so the case than it is with anything by Beethoven, let alone these concertos.
Lang Lang is movng away from his reputation as the Chinese Liberace, but as evidenced by this recording, he has miles to go yet. Christoph Eschenbach, fresh off his decision to bag parochial and plebian Philly and head to the City of Light, delivers the type of sympathetic counterpoint that most soloists only dream about. He is given over completely to where the music may lead him, and in its deepest recesses he shows Lang the path to follow. LL hasn't quite summoned the necessary instincts to go there fully. And I believe that's due to his own absorption into the cult of personality that enwraps everything about him with vicarious thrills - checkered pants (huh? who dresses this guy?), Clay Aiken posturing, over the top emotionalism are not serving him well. Beethoven was never over the top. He dwelt in the dark places of the human soul and his postcards from that territory are filled with grit, anger, passion. Done poorly, and his music is muzak. Done well, and the human soul comes face to face with its own nightmares and fears, triumphs and tragedies. This is not muzak, thanks to Eschenbach, but it isn't Alfred Brendel and Simon Rattle either, let alone Martha Argerich and anybody at the podium.
Considering his back catalogue, this is a triumph for LL. Hopefully, as with DRAGON SONGS, it indicates that he is coming to terms with more than dexterity and sleight of hand, and ham fisted power chords. I remain skeptical yet hopeful. Classical music is in desperate need of a blazing star, a Jimi Hendix if you will, who would radically re-think a discipline that has trouble finding its market and relevance in life today. Lang Lang may have the goods, but he needs to get down in the gutter with the rest of us, or as Oscar Wilde might intone:
"all of us are in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars..."
There is an ontological karma there that Lang Lang would do well to embrace. In this recording, he has, at least, shaken its hand.
Free Music Review: Improving, but he almost sounds scared
Hit: 3 Stars
One thing Lang Lang is generally not known for is restraint in his performances. Usually one is treated to a spectacle of technique to burn, but often untempered by artistry --- and the result tends to be over-the-top and self-indulgent.
I don't know if Lang Lang is listening to his critics --- if he is, give him credit where credit is due. He has his armies of adoring fans who will scarf up whatever recordings he may foist upon them, and without complaint. He is a commercial success --- he really doesn't need to answer to the critics. But apparently he is trying to show those nay-sayers among us that he can play with poise, restraint and self-discipline.
Unfortunately, he doesn't really seem to know how to do that yet. The result is (if one can imagine) simultaneously encouraging & disappointing. On the one hand, one can find hope that perhaps in a few more years, he can return to these pieces and dig a little deeper beneath the surface. On the other hand, these performances are hardly ones of the ages.
His Opus 15 performance sounds cautious for the most part, and at times even as though he is afraid to move beyond what is on the page. Opus 58, sadly, looks to be totally beyond his artistic abilities at this point. I hate to use the word "soulless" as others have --- but what the hell, I have to call it what it is. Sometimes he just sucks the life out of the piece.
For Lang Lang, the challenge seems to be finding that happy medium between the utterly flamboyant & the hopelessly pedantic. He hasn't found it yet. At least he's looking for it, or so it would appear. I have had precious little good to say about him in the past, so it's nice to see that he's trying to grow, even a little.
Free Music Review: The image is bigger than the music.
Hit: 3 Stars
Yes, I feel that the Lang Lang image has overtaken the musicality. But I must give the young man some credit here; he has taken on a couple of very complex cadenzas, and he does play the pieces quite well. Beethoven certainly does run the gamut of emotions, and the joy is definitely missing in these performances. Lang Lang turns the listener's attention to himself with exaggerated rubatos and dynamics, but the technique is clean and smooth.
When I started my classical music label, I learned to listen to recordings on many levels and I must give credit to his recording team at Emil Berliner Studios. The production is flawless; the balance between orchestra and piano is perfect, the image is exactly as you would hear in the concert hall.
Most people don't need the narcissistic 16-page booklet, so downloading is recommended.
Free Music Review: A Limited Interpretation of Beethoven
Hit: 2 Stars
I've always felt that Lang Lang should restrict himself to Mozart and early Beethoven, and this recording of the Beethoven concertos convinces me further of this. His recording of the first concerto is fine; he gives a real sense of the classical period through a bold approach. However, when this same approach is applied to the fourth concerto, it comes across as raw and bland. Lang Lang has no depth of mood; he shifts between the only three colors he knows without bothering to connect passages together. This approach simply does not pass when performing a piece where the first movement alone is twenty minutes long. With such a piece, it is crucial to keep the "big picture" intact. Lang Lang knows how to make the piano sound strong, sensitive, or excited, but doesn't know anything between. This is not often a limitation with Mozart's piano works, which have the same sudden, constant mood-swings that characterize Mozart's personality, hence why I say Lang Lang should stick to the classical period.
What depth Lang Lang lacks aurally he tries to make up for with grandiose swaying and gestures in front of audiences, but with a recording there is nothing to cover up his disconnected, shallow sound. As a previous reviewer noted, the orchestra is quite subpar, though it doesn't detract too often from the piano, which is quite clear. Lang Lang shows off his technique through excellent articulation and velocity when necessary. However, his musicality is substantively lacking, and the essence of the music is left behind.
Free Music Review: False emotion
Hit: 1 Stars
Lang Lang is the worst pianist imaginable. If you want someone who can play the notes, go for it. But there's simply nothing more here. Even worse, he pretends that there is more. Every phrase is unbelievably contrived. It is like someone who apes all the moves of a great actor with none of the substance behind it. Absolutely abominable, atrocious, and offensive playing. Cannot believe that people are taken in by this charlatan.