Lang Lang demonstrates difference between flash and substance
To close out his concert with the Pittsburgh Symphony, pianist Lang Lang — one of classical music’s most recognizable names — popped an iPad onto the piano and launched into a jazzy rendition of “The Bare Necessities,” a la Gershwin.
There’s a pun somewhere here about Baloo the bear and Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”
Lang Lang is a big enough star that the orchestra did not program a concert with him on a typical concert weekend, but rather a midweek performance last Tuesday, when their schedules aligned. He’s enough of a draw that the hall, which seats around 2,700, nearly sold out.
He’s a musical superstar, and he showed it last week.
His take on Saint-Saens’ second piano concerto, an intimate, witty bit of French repertoire, was delightful from the start. The music opens with an extended solo for the piano — in a phone conversation the day before the concert, Lang Lang remarked that the music is like a piece for the organ in its pedal tones. (“It’s almost like having a piano and a half,” he quipped.)
At the concert, he took his time, striking chords that pealed and hung in the air as he wove melody into the texture, reminiscent of a Bach fugue.
Despite his fame, the pianist’s playing isn’t universally admired. In years past, some critics and listeners have objected to his theatrical style — he tends to flourish his hands and gaze wistfully into the middle distance a fair bit — and his speed, which some have argued once prioritized flash over substance and musicality.
“When I was in early 20s, I intended to show more about my fingerings,” Lang Lang, now 40, mused. “At that time I was practicing more than today. If you’re a big muscled guy you always want to show off your muscles. You want to show how to play fast, but, after a time, everybody knows you can do it. Everybody knows Lang Lang can do that.”
While he doesn’t consider one approach better than the other, he has prioritized bringing out new details and voices in his performances over pure speed and adrenaline. He has worked to redefine himself in recent years, particularly since a hand injury halted his career for a year.
I found his approach compelling, an honest balance of substance and spectacle that made for a thrilling concert, flourishes and all. The zippy second movement, a lighthearted scherzo, whizzed along at breakneck speed, while soloist and orchestra remained unruffled. Here and in the final movement, a bit of delight in his technical wizardry shone through, but there were colors in the music, little gestures and harmonic voices
emphasized that breathed fresh life into the work.
The orchestra, led by music director Manfred Honeck, matched his sensitivity wonderfully, like glove to hand. Lang Lang explained that, although he had only limited rehearsal time with the orchestra, he’d sent a live recording ahead so Honeck could get a sense of the character and tempo of his interpretation.
To fill out the program, the orchestra delivered a rousing suite from Bizet’s opera “Carmen” and other favorites, finishing with a work by Chinese American composer Zhou Tian. While “Gift” was exciting in its grand scope and sweeping gestures, a lack of melodic clarity gave the work a frenetic, disorganized feel.
Honeck’s take on SaintSaens’ “Bachannale” from “Samson and Delilah,” on the other hand, was pure zest.
“Manfred’s conducting brings out sounds that are very natural and genuine, but very different,” Lang Lang said. “It’s not conventional — he’s absolutely a great musician.”