– Customer review on 29/05/2011

The entertainment world craves superheroes and villains, and Lang Lang is neither. His first recital CD on Sony, done live at the Musikvereinssaal, is a wonderful success, with a few instructive exceptions.
I first heard Lang Lang when he visited Reading, PA in March 2002. He played to a partially filled college chapel, but the mood seemed to suit him, and he played the most pearly Mendelssohn Caprices and electrifying Wanderer Fantasy (far better than at Carnegie or Verizon Hall) that I ever will hear. When he roared into the final fugue theme, little grey-haired ladies stared at each other with their mouths hanging open.
It is such playing that mesmerizes piano lovers as they listen to golden-age broadcasts from the 1930's. But Lang Lang does not like to play in that manner when the red recording light is on. Today everyone is labeled with permanent marker, and since his craft encompasses image as well as music (as he candidly admits), some listeners seem to just see and not hear him. Trying to please such people is a mistake.
It is for that reason that this set (which I merely "heard") is so welcome - amid the uproar Lang Lang continues to deepen his scope, leverage his technique, choose major repertoire, and widen the sound-palette of his recording persona.
The first CD contains his first recording (so what???) of two Beethoven Sonatas. It happens that these performances plumb every corner and raise them to the heights. The first (Opus 3 No. 2) is no "early" fluff piece. (It actually runs two minutes longer than the "Appassionata.") The playing is full of life and variety, with moods unfolding naturally and without exaggeration. When Beethoven challenges the listener (such as the tension in the "fake recap" of mvt. I) there is a sense of discovery. The third movement's varied articulations are meticulously observed, the flying fingers bringing out natural contrasts because no compromise in tempo is needed. Beethoven's touches of polyphony sound as fresh as when they were written.
What youth idol could resist milking the Appassionata? He does not do it. I was shocked by the tart, straightforward beginning. Then when Beethoven calls for fire, Lang Lang delivers in spades. His interview in the booklet acknowledges many influences (who do you know who loves BOTH Kempff and Rubinstein in this piece?) - and his choices are eclectic. He favors incremental growth rather than terraces in the second movement. His final movement tempo is brisk but not crazy, with a satisfying ending. Those who quibble over details should take a second look at the score. Overall, his Beethoven playing reaps continual benefits from sheer clarity, and these performances will endure as a result.
Skipping to the Prokofiev Seventh Sonata on Disk two: Another winner. I prefer to imagine this piece as riotous fun - absolute music that serves as a respite from war, not a portrayal of desolation and death. But I am in the minority, and Lang Lang's raw vignettes make an unnerving case for the sonata as political commentary. No punches are pulled. He did his practicing.
Then we have the Albeniz Iberia Book One, and three Chopin pieces.
I give the release five stars because if you take the Beethoven and Prokofiev, with mvt. two of the Albeniz to catch one's breath, you have an 80-minute disc (with applause trimmed) that is easily the best solo album he has done, and one to stand with the greats.
The Albeniz first two movements are smoky and decent. But the third dance movement, as well as the Chopin Etude, Polonaise and Waltz at the end, sag and lurch as if the driver snuck out for a beer while the car was still on the highway. Lang Lang can excel in Chopin, as his E-minor Concerto recording proves. These short pieces are a distressing mess. They will come back to haunt him.
Sony has signed a major artist who chooses to make himself a teacher and a learner as well as a performer. We all could do likewise. His influence ought to be a source of happiness for those who want classical music to be appreciated at its true value