Interact & Reviews / Reviews

D Steptoe
We were lucky to be in the audience for the Lang Lang concert and would like to know if this concert is going to be repeated on the radio or maybe shown on BBC TV (Not BBC4) in the near future. Thank you for the Proms, they are wonderful.

Pat, Cheshire
I don't think that all Lang Lang does is bad, just most of it. The pieces he thinks he excels in i.e. the virtuoso pieces, are actually his biggest weakness because he can't play loud without it sounding like banging, and he can't play fast without it sounding too rushed. He even can't handle the more sensitive and lyrical parts either. His phrasing sometimes is all over the place and I find his eccentric gestures rather off-putting. Sudden fortissimos followed by sudden pianos sound just plain ugly which seems to be a big part of his interpretative style.

Having said that I think he plays his native country's music pretty well, and Mozart seems to suit his playing also as his performance here suggested. He does have a delicate touch which ironically he does rather well when he plays, so would also suit Haydn's music as well. His Beethoven is OK but doesn't blow me away. But he is not convincing at all at big virtuoso pieces as he demonstrated here in Rachmaninov and Liszt. He has the technical wizardry but not the musical clarity, control and maturity to handle his tremendous technique required in these pieces. Often plays too fast, too loud, too clumsy and over emphasises his rubato and phrasing of passages to the point you are irritated by it. To music enthusiasts who appreciate great playing and not just great technique Lang Lang is a dissapointment, but if his army of fans like what he does who are we to argue? Summary - Mozart - "Good", Schubert duo with Mark Fu - "entertaining", The rest - "Pretty Poor".

Hennie Botha
I listened to the Lang Lang recital online as I could not attend the Prom. The Mozart Sonata was played beautifully and I regretted not being there in person. Then came the Rachmaninov! What a mess! He raced through the music without any regard for articulation and feeling. The rest of the recital was much the same. Circus tricks. It just confirmed my suspicions that Lang Lang is 20% musician and 80% circus animal. I know from previous performances that he is capable of much better, but he lets the glitter get the better of him. This kind of performance is not going to get him into the annals as one of the great pianists. Previous Proms were criticised for including populist music, but I would MUCH rather have popular music performed well than serious music mangled!

John Woodhouse
I listened to this on the radio and then watched it on TV and it was most enjoyable. I had not expected so much piano music in one go to be such a delight!

Catherine
We were one of three families who came - in our case, Mum and two daughters of 6 and 10 years; our friends were 3 adults and 3 children under 6 years.

Words fail us really - it was magical - we'll never forget it. They both inspired us all and especially the girls. The duet was a highlight - two as one; extraordinary. The Liszt Rhapsody was the best I have ever heard (and as one who up to this point always preferred the orchestral version for a piece which is one of my favourites). I so wanted to action replay it! Lang Lang gave it the power and colour it so needs and I just loved the arrangement.

Couldn't believe that pastoral feelings and emotions Chinese style and that of Debussy could sound so similar - proof again of the unique universality of language that is music. The encores were magical and so generous, and thanks to the 'Chieftans' recording of their tour of China, I actually knew the piece!

Just one regret - to see so few really 'young' faces in among the audience; as one who asked in the past for more developed (i.e. beyond the Blue Peter type concert ) family access ... thank you, thank you for this chance and at this price - but we need to advertise better to reach the target audience, perhaps among the musical teaching network and 3-4 months in advance? Thank you, thank you to all who brought Lang Lang and Yu to us; the souls in our wee family, are still singing.

Chinese superstar Lang Lang's solo Prom recital provided all the thrills we have come to expect from him (and which his detractors take issue at), but his programme also included some less showy pieces to provide genuine substance.

His Mozart Sonata was graceful and classical in conception, with none of the indulgent rubato that Horowitz was prone to, and only in the finale did he occasionally go over the top in his ff. The Rachmaninov however, showed his wild side, the Prelude Op 23/2 in particular which he started at lightning speed (probably the fastest anyone has ever played it), though he did relax in its central section, as he did in the famous Prelude in G minor, Op 23/5. The Chopin Andante Spianato was meltingly played, to be followed by the virtuosic Grande Polonaise which was full of thrills and even spills.

Then he brought on stage his nine-year-old protege Marc Yu for Schubert's Fantasia in F minor. Lang Lang, playing secondo, reined in his dynamics (except for the occasional sforzandi) to avoid overpowering his young colleague (whose hands were not yet big enough to span an octave) and the performance was generally intimate. As was the first of the Debussy Preludes he played, poetic and reflective. But Lang Lang the virtuoso came back in force for the rest of the programme, including two Chinese works and Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 in Horowitz's arrangement, the latter suitably wild and completely over-the-top which even Horowitz himself would have been hard-pressed to emulate!

His first encore, Chopin's Etude in E, Op 10/3, started quietly before the onslaught of the agitated middle section, played at a speed that probably no other pianist would ever attempt. When his father came on stage to play the second encore with him ('Horses Racing'), Lang Lang almost met his match in their sheer ebullience, bringing the house down.

David Das
I can't find the words to thank you for the splendid 'night of the proms' with Lang Lang. When will this recital be on air again? Where and when can I get a CD of this performance of the year? With my kindly regards.

Dmitry
It is now clear to me why Lang Lang's nickname is 'Bang Bang'. Being an excellent pianist with superb technique he stars in classic pieces like Mozart's sonata. However when playing both technically demanding and emotionally challenging Rachmaninov he falls into a cacophony, lacking clarity and expression. He seems not to have a deep understanding of the music he plays. As a minor detail, his manner to tap on the floor with his leg (or sometimes both legs and quite loudly) is also a little annoying. He also looks a little too pompous.

B Middleton
Congratulation to the organisers. Lang Lang got most of the notes in the right order, except in the very fast bits.