Lang Lang: Saint-saëns

Carnival of the Animals; Piano Concerto No. 2; plus works by Ravel, Debussy, Fauré, Farrenc, L Boulanger et al

Lang Lang (piano), Gina Alice (piano); Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra/ Andris Nelsons

DG 485 9224 106:00 mins (2 discs)

From the regal fanfare of the lion’s march to the evocative cuckoo call and blistering pianistic finale, Carnival of the Animals is an evergreen delight. Having cited his young son as inspiration for his 2022 release The Disney Book, a bonanza of film-score arrangements and transcriptions, it was only a matter of time before Lang Lang turned his attention to Saint-saëns’s musical menagerie.

As with the Disney project, this latest recording features starry collaborators – the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Andris Nelsons lumber (‘The Elephant’), laugh (‘Personages with Long

Ears’) and luxuriate (‘The Swan’), while fellow pianist Gina Alice,

Lang Lang’s wife, hops gleefully in ‘Kangaroos’ and, in a later version of ‘The Swan’ for piano four hands, gracefully pirouettes.

There was mild consternation when Channel 4 talent show The Piano recently referred to Lang Lang, one of its celebrity judges, as ‘the world’s most celebrated pianist’ – what about Marc-andré Hamelin or Martha Argerich, to name just two worthy candidates? But Lang Lang’s talent is his versatility: he can encourage a bunch of amateur pianists at St Pancras Station, recreate the wild abandon of galloping mules (‘Jackasses’) and, also here, mine Saint-saëns’s second Piano Concerto for sparkling nuggets. The shimmering cadenza that opens the Andante sostenuto becomes boldly percussive, echoed by the orchestra. The various instrumental solos are clearly captured; some of the middle piano register feels overly bright in places.

Despite the title, the majority of pieces on the second portion of the programme are not in fact by Saintsaëns, but composers loosely in his orbit. Debussy’s Petite Suite for Four Hands offers another chance for Gina Alice to perform, with a charming ‘En bateau’ and ‘Ballet’. Miniatures by women composers Charlotte Sohy, Louise Farrenc and Lili Boulanger build on the work undertaken by smaller labels such as La Boîte à Pépites. Claire Jackson PERFORMANCE

RECORDING