Lang Lang releases his first All-Chopin Recital Recording - “The Chopin Album”

By -

INCLUDES DELUXE LIMITED EDITION WITH BONUS DVD “MY LIFE WITH CHOPIN”
AVAILABLE OCTOBER 9


The music of Chopin – universally loved for its beauty and communicative power – has long been a dynamic force in Lang Lang’s life, propelling him through a number of career-defining experiences. Now, in his 30th-birthday year, Lang Lang records his first album entirely devoted to the great composer’s solo piano masterpieces.

The Chopin Album – Lang Lang’s third album for Sony Classical – includes the second set of Chopin’s Études (op. 25), the Andante spianato & Grande Polonaise and a selection of shorter works that he has long enjoyed performing, including three Nocturnes and the Waltz op. 64 no. 1, popularly known as the “Minute” Waltz.

Chopin “speaks with such a universal voice,” Lang Lang says. “I genuinely believe he’s a true ambassador for classical music among the great composers. He appeals to everyone.”

Chopin has accompanied Lang Lang throughout his career. One of the first pieces he learnt was the Grande Valse brillante in E-flat major op. 18 (included on this album), and it was Chopin’s music that also carried him through a number of career-changing competitions, including Ettlingen (Germany) in 1994 and the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in Sendai (Japan) in 1995, when he took First Prize performing Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto. And it was with the Chopin Études that Lang Lang made his now-renowned Beijing Concert Hall recital at age 14 – a performance that led to his studying with Gary Graffman at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia.

“The reason that Chopin’s Études hold such a special place for pianists”, says Lang Lang, “is that they provide the training for so many different elements of technique. But they’re not just studies, not just normal exercises – not just for your fingers – they help you develop how your mind works, and how you control the different layers of your emotional response.”

Included with the Deluxe Limited Edition is a bonus DVD on which Lang Lang talks about the various musical milestones in his life and explains how Chopin has been a close companion. The video contains archive footage of Lang Lang playing Chopin, with excerpts from his early concerts and competitions – the 1994 Ettlingen competition, the 1995 Beijing concert and Tchaikovsky Competition in Sendai, and part of a 1996 concert of the Études in Beijing. It also includes complete performances of the Grande Valse brillante in A-flat major op. 34 no. 1 (recorded live in Vienna), the “Heroic” Polonaise in A-flat major op. 53 (recorded at Berlin’s Berghain Club), and the “Black Keys” Étude in G-flat major op. 10 no. 5 (recorded at London’s Roundhouse during the 2011 iTunes Festival).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In &quo
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

The Art of String Quartets by Brian Ferneyhough

By -
Image
When an artist sets paint to canvas, there are brush strokes used for different effects. Sometimes those strokes are subtle, imperceptible; they produce works of art like the Mona Lisa . Other times the very obvious nature of the stroke is the art, as in works by Van Gogh. With some composers of music, the notes on the page are their craft. How those notes translate into an aural experience is what defines some composers as great artists. Brian Ferneyhough has a masterful command of the techniques of putting notes on the page. These techniques are sometimes so subtle, even though written in black and white, they escape detection. Some of what he attempts with his music is just that, to escape detection, to bury the framework, diverting the ear away from the structure, so only the music is heard . The subtlety is so fine it is almost imperceptible. Even though he studied at several institutions, he is considered self-taught, studying scores from Boule
Read more