Last night CF and I attended Lang Lang’s concert at Davies. Mozart, Beethoven, Albeniz, Granados, Liszt. Lang Lang is especially popular in the Chinese world, as might be expected – almost all the people near us were CF’s people :-)
Mozart. OK.
Beethoven. Bombastic quadruple fortissimo chords crashing down from hands high in the air, immediately followed by supremely delicate pppp passages. Lang Lang is very good at this, but it isn’t my favorite – Beethoven isn’t my favorite, really – symphonies OK, piano no – somehow I don’t quite get it? Lang Lang’s touch in the quiet parts is superb…
Albeniz. The highlight of the show, for me. I’ve only heard guitar transcriptions.
Granados. Again, I only know guitar transcriptions, but apparently Granados is a member of the many-notes school when it comes to piano. I don’t know if I recognized anything, I probably did.
Liszt. As to be expected.
Standing ovation.
We had 2 encores – Debussy and the music from LaLa Land, which I didn’t recognize, but CF did.
The auditorium was almost completely full. In the past I knew Lang Lang for his dramatic emotional flourishes, but in this time he just seemed exuberant. The performance was performative, and athletic. I’m glad I went.