LANG LANG – Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.3 / Scriabin: Etudes (2002)

Lang Lang is one of the 21^st Century performers with the ability and personality to take classical music into far wider areas of appreciation. A genuine child prodigy who began learning the piano at the age of three, throughout his childhood he quickly gathered praise and acclaim as a Chinese musical master with boundless potential. Recorded at a Royal Albert Hall Proms night while he was still a teenager, this piano concerto is an astounding virtuoso performance, a centre stage show in every way. It doesn’t play out like there’s carefully prepared slots for the piano to solo before the orchestra strike up on cue to make the structure and form solid. The piano leads from start to finish with the orchestral parts throttling up where appropriate, backing with bundles of sympathy, rhythm and flair, but never once overwhelming the lead instrument. The concerto is initially based on a simple melodic pattern that ebbs and flows throughout, re-appearing in sometimes recognisable form and others as variations that cling no more than tenuously to the original pattern. If you listen closely to Lang Langs’ playing the technical execution will impress but that’s really not the point; he’s playing all the way with nothing less than total empathy with the composition and the feel of the piece. Sensitive where required and yet bold and powerful too when it’s needed, there’s a great moment twelve minutes into the opening piece where he’s bashing out high treble clef chords as if he’s about to launch into a version of ‘Nut Rocker’! To say he’s owning the work is an understatement; this was a performance that exists on a whole other level of playing. It will seep into your subconscious and that simple piano figure that roots the opening of this concerto will play out in your mind during the deep dark hours of the night. All three movements are towering pieces of music played to perfection. For this show Lang encored with the sublime ‘Liu Yang River’ which he describes as a “Chinese folk song” to the strangely amused audience.

After the genius of the Rachmaninov recital the remaining Scriabin Etudes, recorded on a different occasion, aren’t quite so joyous. Perhaps serving as more a demonstration of Lang’s range and versatility, they are eloquently played but do not come close to the breathtaking effect of the concerto performance, which is enough reason alone for me to strongly recommend this album to anyone.

Essex Boy Rating: 8/10