Lang Lang, Vadim Repin, Mischa Maisky Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov: Piano Trios Review

What do you get when you cross a world famous solo pianist with a world famous solo violinist and a world famous solo cellist?

Were one to be a natural wit (not guilty), fabulous possible punch lines would now be tripping off the tongue. It’s a musical combination that doesn’t scream: “selflessly balanced ensemble playing”, especially when the pianist in question is Lang Lang, the young Chinese virtuoso better known for attention-grabbing performances coloured by larger-than-life gestures. However, here he is in his first chamber recording, a medium where pianist regularly becomes accompanist, joined by Vadim Repin and Mischa Maisky, two undisputed soloist giants.

Despite such a threesome having all the makings of a bitter battle for musical supremacy, the result is impressive beyond expectation. It was perhaps a shrewd move for Lang Lang to pair himself with Repin and Maisky, eliminating as it does the danger of any trio member succumbing either to wrongly placed humility, or claiming greater worthiness of attention than the others. Rather, all three play with such confidence, verve and – wait for it – deference, that they bounce off and meld with each other perfectly in a performance that brings out all the tension, tenderness and exuberance of these two works.

Their soloist day jobs turn out to be a positive advantage, as they’re all experts in pizzazz and know when to bring it on. The unity of tone in the stringed instruments’ unison passages is such that one could be forgiven for assuming that Maisky and Repin had been collaborating for years. Meanwhile, Lang Lang instinctively knows when to pull back into softly sympathetic musical cushioning, when and how to draw alongside his partners, and when some soloist fun is allowed.

Lang Lang has also collaborated with jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, and will soon be accompanying mezzo Cecilia Bartoli in recital, so he’s certainly sticking to superstar collaborations. Whilst one could snipe that that’s the only way his chamber excursions could work, it would be unfair conjecture. The concrete fact proved by this disc is that Lang Lang can not only do chamber music, but do it phenomenally well.