Yes, that is a picture of
Lang Lang playing a piano on a flooded heath. As I always say,
chacun à son gout. He made quite a pig's ear of the Beethoven 'Emperor' Concerto at the
Lucerne Festival the other week, providing surface beauty aplenty, but turning it into nothing more than a series of pretty episodes and pulling it around so much that several times it nearly fell apart at the seams. I pitied the poor wind players when he was supposed to be accompanying them. My full review will be in
International Piano in due course.
Lang Lang, though, is a phenomenon that's more than the sum of its parts: he has become emblematic of our day and age (as I've explained in a lengthy essay introducing
DG's new boxed set of his complete recordings 2000-2009). He could have been the world's greatest pianist and ten years ago seemed set to become just that; perhaps he still can be, once the commercial phase wears thin and deeper waters begin to beckon.
And he is at the centre of a tremendous pianofest that's fast approaching on the BBC and up in Leeds.
The Leeds International Piano Competition is kicking off shortly and Lang Lang is to be its "global ambassador" (though exactly why isn't clear, as it's not as if he were a past winner, or even, as far as I'm aware, a past entrant...).
The piano is rolling off to flood the BBC airwaves much more thoroughly than the pond above. The three-legged monster is set to eat up the schedules on Radio 3 and BBC4, with extensive coverage of the Leeds contest on both, a series of Monday evening piano recitals on Radio 3, a major focus towards those actually learning the instrument, and much more. The full wonder of the piano is something exceptional, something
magnificent, something magical, and if this unique season of pianomania can help to
bring the essence of it to a wider audience, that is terrific. Let's
see what happens.
For TV,
Alan Yentob has made a movie about...oh yes, Lang Lang. I wish he would make one about someone else as well. Lang Lang has been featured on plenty of films before now, yet the truly towering musicianship of such artists as Grigory Sokolov, Mitsuko Uchida, Krystian Zimerman, Andras Schiff, Murray Perahia, Radu Lupu and plenty more remains scandalously under-documented.
Besides, if you want an interesting story out of China, then talk to
Fou Ts'ong. We hear a lot about how 60 million children in China have taken up the piano under the influence of "the Lang Lang effect". We hear a lot about "tiger mums". We hear virtually nothing any more about the fate of an entire generation of Chinese artists and intellectuals during the Cultural Revolution. And we should. (I think it's high time I unearthed my interview with Ts'ong for the old
Classical Piano magazine in the mid-90s and re-ran it...watch this space...)
Wishing all the very best of luck to all the entrants at Leeds - and may
the finest musician win.
Finally, at the risk of being accused of just posting the BBC's press release, I'm just going to post the BBC's press release (or part of it) and then you'll know what they're doing.
Discover a Suite of Piano Programmes on the
BBC this Autumn
Saturday 15 September until
Tuesday
6 November
This
autumn, the BBC will be dedicating a suite of programmes to the music, people,
history and beauty of one of the world’s most iconic instruments, the piano.
Piano
Season on the BBC
is a major six-week season celebrating a single instrument. The season
will explore the piano’s wide-ranging influence from the 1700s to the present
day, as well as delve into the lives of the people behind the piano and the
music created for it.
Highlights
of the season include an in-depth insight into The Leeds International Piano
Competition, a Jazz Battle live from Trinity Laban College Greenwich, a
downloadable A-Z of the piano, Peter Donohoe’s 50 Greats, an online masterclass
for budding pianists and well-loved personalities from around the UK, such as
Woman’s
Hour’s Jane Garvey, Radio 1’s Dev and Olympic medal winner Samantha Murray,
taking up the challenge of learning the piano for the first time, with eight of
them taking part in the season finale, Gala Concert in Cardiff on the 29
October 2012.
The season
begins with extensive coverage of the Leeds International Piano Competition
with live broadcasts of the Final on BBC Radio 3 and a six-part series about
the finalists on BBC FOUR. The season will culminate on November 6th
with a special episode of Imagine on BBC One focusing on Lang Lang as he turns
30.
The Leeds
International Piano Competition on BBC FOUR will be presented by Suzy Klein,
herself a pianist, and will showcase the six finalists and their concerto
performances in full. The series will also take viewers behind the
scenes to
discover why ‘The
Leeds’ is admired worldwide, take a closer look at the mechanical marvel that
is the piano, speak directly to the woman behind the competition, Dame Fanny
Waterman, who has inspired a generation of young musicians and delve into what
makes a world-leading concert pianist. With arguably one of the piano world’s
biggest stars taking an ambassadorial role with the competition, we’ll also
hear from Lang Lang on why ‘The Leeds’ still matters as it approaches its 50th
birthday.
BBC Radio
3 listeners can follow the competition live with both Concerto Finals nights
and the Sunday Afternoon Gala Concert broadcast live from Leeds. Piano Season
on BBC Radio 3 continues with artists such as Lang Lang, the Labeque Sisters
and Malcom Martineau sharing
their musical inspirations, as well as hearing from experts such as David Owen
Norris and Peter Donohoe. Programmes will feature some of the greatest piano
music ever written by composers who themselves loved and played the piano;
including Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Liszt, Beethoven, Debussy and Chopin
alongside late night jazz programming exploring some of the greatest names in
jazz pianism.
Monday
nights will be 'Piano Night' when BBC Radio 3’s Live in Concert will offer
listeners a series of unique piano recitals, from different corners of the
nation, given by an array of international artists. Past Leeds finalist Sunwook
Kim will play Beethoven and Schubert and Russian Evgenia Rubinova
presents a programme of music from her native country; Ukrainian Alexei Grynyuk
plays Chopin and Liszt; Pascal and Ami Rogé play French music for two pianos;
while Radio 3 New Generation Artist Igor Levit performs Rzewksi’s
celebrated and fiendishly difficult Variations on “The People United Will Never
Be Defeated”; Ashley Wass and Huw Watkins team up to perform Robin
Holloway’s pianistic tour-de-force “The Gilded Goldbergs”.
In BBC
Radio 3 ‘s
morning programmes, listeners will have the chance to hear the ‘50 Great Pianists’
– a short
daily focus on one of the fifty greatest names from the world of pianism as
selected by Peter Donohoe, while regular programmes such as ‘'Composer of the
Week' will explore the lives of composers who wrote for the instrument, from
Clementi to Rachmaninov. Special guests and piano lovers including as
Kathryn Stott, Valentina Lisitsa, James May, Alan Rusbridger and Benjamin Frith
will be joining the regular BBC Radio 3 presenters through the season to talk
about their passion and experiences with the iconic instrument.
There will also
be online master classes, exploration of the historical and social history of
the piano and an entertaining A-Z of the piano in BBC Radio 3’s late afternoon
programme ‘In
Tune’.
Trinity
College London and the ABRSM [Associated Board of The Royal Schools of Music]
will be helping budding pianists hone their skills in ‘110%’ on Friday
nights. We’ll be treated to great performances of Piano Syllabus pieces
and hear from the experts on what make them so special and how to get 110% in
their exams.
Later on
in the autumn, BBC One’s Imagine will return with a special documentary
presented by Alan Yentob on Lang Lang, arguably one of the greatest pianists of
his generation, as he turns 30. Lang Lang’s dazzling technique and musicality have inspired a generation of young pianists and delighted audiences throughout the
world. Imagine follows him on an impressive schedule of concerts in Shanghai,
New York, London and Berlin and reveals a personal story that began with great
hardship and a family dream that nearly ended in tragedy. In this auspicious
'Year of the Dragon' Lang Lang celebrates his 30th birthday at
a concert in Berlin with Herbie Hancock, opens his own piano school in China,
plays for the Queen at the Diamond Jubilee, performs sell-out concerts at the
Royal Albert Hall, and becomes the first classical musician to headline at a
British pop music festival.
BBC FOUR
will also celebrate Lang Lang being appointed as the Global Ambassador of the
Leeds International Piano Competition with two one-off documentaries on Friday
2 November. Lang
Lang at the Roundhouse will give viewers an
opportunity to see this stunning performance at London’s legendary Roundhouse,
recorded at the iTunes festival in July 2011. Lang Lang performs a
remarkable Liszt recital as the only classical music artist in a true rock-star
surrounding, next to international pop stars like Coldplay, Adele and Linkin
Park. And Lang Lang: The Art of being a Virtuoso follows Lang Lang through China, the US and Europe and offers a glimpse into life on tour
with the superstar.
Photo credit: BBC/Steve Brown
