Chopin: The Piano Concertos

CD Details

Review

“Lang Lang is a phenomenon, no doubt about it.” — The Washington Post

“Lang Lang went about the entire piece [Chopin Piano Concerto no. 1] in a gentle, velvety way, rippling beautiful chromatic passages with a liquid touch, rarely raising his voice above the level of mezzo-forte.” — Los Angeles Times

Product Description

The long-awaited and highly anticipated recording of Lang Lang performing Chopin’s Piano Concertos nos. 1 & 2 has arrived. Both concertos are among the most beloved in the repertoire and Lang Lang’s many concert performances frequently receive the highest praise. Lang Lang is joined by Zubin Mehta and the Vienna Philharmonic in a brilliant pairing of talent and temperament. This is sure to become a benchmark recording of these beloved concertos.

About the Artist

Lang Lang plays sold-out, highly acclaimed concerts in all the world’s major music venues. He has dem-onstrated an extraordinary ability to connect with audiences on a deeply personal level and has established himself as one of the most outstanding pianists of our time. His talent and personality make him an ideal ambassador for classical music and a role model for young people. He has performed live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, could also be seen on Sesame Street, and is the first classical artist ever to perform an exclusive concert in the digital world of Second Life. He is the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Wiener Philharmoniker, and all “Big Five” American orchestras. 1982 Born in Shenyang, China, Lang Lang begins his piano studies at the age of three with Pro-fessor Zhu Ya-Fen from the Shenyang Conservatory of Music 1987 Wins first prize in the Shenyang Piano Competition and gives his first public recital. In the coming years he takes first prize in the fifth Xing Hai Cup Piano Competition in Beijing, first prize and “outstanding artistic performance” in the fourth International Young Pianists Competition in Germany, and first prize at the Tchaikovsky International Young Musicians Competition held in 1995in Japan 1991 Studies with Professor Zhao Ping-Guo at the Central Music Conservatory in Beijing 1995 Plays the complete Chopin Études in the Beijing Concert Hall 1996 Performs as one of the soloists at the inaugural concert of the China National Symphony, which President Jiang Ze-Min attends as guest of honour 1997 Studies with Gary Graffman at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia (until 2002) 1999 Decisive career breakthrough with his dramatic last-minute substitution for André Watts at the Ravinia Festival, playing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto no. 1 with the Chicago Sym-phony Orchestra 2001 Sold-out Carnegie Hall debut to great critical acclaim playing the Grieg Concerto. Travels to Beijing with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Wolfgang Sawallisch for a tour celebrating the orchestra’s 100th anniversary. Sensational BBC Proms debut playing Rachmaninov’s Third Concerto 2001/2002 Recital debuts at London’s Wigmore Hall, Washington’s Kennedy Center, and the Louvre in Paris. Debuts with the New York and London Philharmonics, both with Christoph Es-chenbach, under whose baton he also tours Europe. Performs with the NHK Symphony Or-chestra under Charles Dutoit in concerts broadcast on NHK Television throughout Japan 2002 First recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Award at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival; featured in a week-long residency with five concerts at the Ravinia Festival 2003 First release for Deutsche Grammophon: the Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn First Concertos, with Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Echo Award 2004). Festival appear-ances include the opening concert of the BBC Proms, as well as Mostly Mozart (debut), As-pen, Tanglewood, Ravinia, Verbier, and Schleswig-Holstein. Triumphant Carnegie Hall re-cital debut, recorded live and released in 2004 2004 Concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Berlin Staatskapelle, Or-chestra of the Mariinsky Theatre, and Berliner Philharmoniker. Becomes UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Festival appearances in Ravinia and Verbier. Recital debut at the Berlin Phil-harmonie and US recital tour. Echo Award as “Instrumentalist of the Year”; his Carnegie Hall Recital album enters the German pop charts and is awarded an Austrian Amadeus Mu-sic Award in 2005 2005 Appears in Beijing and on an extensive North American tour with the China Philharmonic, as well as with leading orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Sym-phony, Concertgebouw, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and the Wiener Philharmoniker. Takes part in the second “Concert for Europe” with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Mehta, broadcast around the world. First Latin American tour. Release of the recording of Rach-maninov’s Piano Concerto no. 2 and Paganini Rhapsody with Gergiev 2006 Concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Salonen), Philadelphia Orchestra (Eschen-bach), Deutsches Symphonie Orchester (Nagano), Israel Philharmo