Lang Lang - Chopin: The Piano Concertos
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Music CD Cover Artist: Lang Lang Brand: LANG LANG Composer: Chopin Conductor: Zubin Mehta Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic Edition: Music CD Audio: English (Unknown) CD Release Date: 2008-09-09 Music Label: Deutsche Grammophon Soundtracks:
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Free Music Notes for Chopin: The Piano Concertos Album
Free Music Review: Beautiful playing, but the overall feeling is dull and lacking in brio
Hit: 3 Stars
It's startling to read in the product description that Lang Lang has sold only 100,000 CDs in the U.S., despite his sold-out concerts and mass popularity. (Perhaps downloads account for the small disc sales.) On the four occasions that I've heard him, I was impressed by his sensitivity in Chopin, not to mention his overall command of touch and technique. At heart I think Lang Lang is a lyrical player, and although he can sound like a fish out of water when it comes to traditional German style, Chopin affords a lot of personal leeway (this latitude has also benefited his compatriot Yundi Li).
The Chopin performances on this CD will not suit anyone looking for extravert fireworks and nervous energy a la Argerich, or for the noble command of Michelangeli and Pollini. Zubin Mehta establishes a conventional framework that isn't high in energy, and the soloist enters Concerto #2 in a ruminative mood. Despite the ease of his passagework, Lang Lang phrases almost with hesitancy. The slow movement of #2 is sung gently, and here his phrasing seems just right in its balance of simplicity and freedom. The waltz finale feels too restrained, however, and lacks brio and spring.
Concerto #1 is deservedly more popular, but I wish Mehta didn't start out sounding so uninvolved. Lang Lang's playing is also too relaxed, lovely as it is. Not every note should sound like a raindrop. The slow movement of #1 is hushed but loses tension as it goes along. Keeping the line taut at such a soft volume is difficult. Heard as pure playing, however, Lang Lang again shows how nuanced his touch is. The finale is marked Rondo vivace, and one wishes for a lot more vivaciousness here. Only in the development section does the soloist find reserves of power and depth that make you pay attention.
In all, this doesn't sound like a young man's Chopin to me, and Mehta's dull accompaniment can't be the only reason.