Lang Lang - Complete Recordings 2000-2009 [12 CD Box

Lang Lang - Complete Recordings 2000-2009 [12 CD Box Set][Limited Edition]
- LANG LANG
- MUSICA CLASICA
- INTERNATIONAL
- MUSIC
THE LANG LANG PHENOMENON
What is it that creates a global phenomenon? It s not just the talent of one exceptional individual. Rather, it occurs when that individual, whatever his or her field, comes to epitomize the essence of a time, a place and a zeitgeist. And so it is with Lang Lang a young musician whose achievements have already galvanized a whole new generation into a passion for the piano and its music.
Lang Lang is still at an age when many concert pianists are struggling to establish themselves, yet he has already been a household name for over a decade. His career has been extensively documented on CD and film from the start and his impressive catalogue includes both studio recordings and performances captured live in concert, ranging from keyboard works by Bach and Mozart to arrangements of Chinese traditional pieces and music by his compatriot Tan Dun.
The story of the Chinese superstar pianist began in Shenyang, where he was born in 1982, the only son of Lang Guo-ren, a policeman and expert player of the erhu (Chinese two-stringed violin), and Zhou Xiulan, who loved music and dance. In 1978 the government of China had introduced a one-child policy for families in urban areas in order to exert some control over the country s exploding population figures. This, as Lang Lang later related in his autobiography Journey of a Thousand Miles, could land a hefty weight of responsibility on the shoulders of the sole child permitted to a couple.
Parental pressure to succeed in his case, to be No. 1 could become desperately intense. Compounding this, a counterreaction emerged in the country s musical life to the suppression of Western music, literature and general intellectual life during the Cultural Revolution (from 1966 into the early 1970s): the China of recent decades has hungrily embraced the Western classical music it formerly stifled. Lang Lang, whose intellectual grandparents and parents had been sent to work on a rice farm during the Cultural Revolution, in many ways encapsulates the issues facing his generation.
His early memories of childhood are warm and affectionate. In an interview with the present writer (for Pianist magazine) he recalled: We had family concerts every weekend in which my grandmother and our neighbours would all play we d have everything from Chinese folksongs to piano trios. The concerts used to go on for three hours. We d invite an audience of friends, my mother would cook and our friends would bring food it was great, like Vienna in the 18th century! I still love that kind of atmosphere. You find it in some music festivals where all the musicians eat together and talk a lot and have fun.
Nevertheless, in his autobiography the pianist gives a harrowing account of the pressure he experienced not just to practice and prove himself at home, but to take top place in every audition and competition. He won his first competition at the age of five. Later he moved to Beijing with his father in order to study at the city s Central Music Conservatory, living in conditions of considerable deprivation and leaving his mother working in Shenyang to support them. His studies, and their relationship, had some extreme ups and downs, but as time went on he became reconciled to his father. I learned two important things from him, he says. One is discipline. There were times when things were very restricted by the state and he was not able to go out and perform, but he always kept studying hard as a musician. The other thing is that as a player of a stringed instrument, he thinks of music in terms of singing. Pianists need to have this view of music, because so often they have a great technique but are unable to make the sound legato the way a string player can.
Aged 15, Lang Lang won a scholarship to the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, a select train
Country USA
Brand Deutsche Grammophon
Manufacturer Deutsche Grammophon
Binding Audio CD
ItemPartNumber 028947900580
Model 028947900580
ReleaseDate 2012-07-24
UnitCount 12
Format CD
UPCs 028947900580
EANs 0028947900580

Country	USA
Brand	Deutsche Grammophon
Manufacturer	Deutsche Grammophon
Binding	Audio CD
ItemPartNumber	028947900580
Model	028947900580
ReleaseDate	2012-07-24
UnitCount	12
Format	CD
UPCs	028947900580
EANs	0028947900580

Lang Lang - Complete Recordings 2000-2009 [12 CD Box Set][Limited Edition]

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