The Colourful World of Music

This month Lang Lang joins the Sydney Symphony to perform Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto no 2. Paolo Hooke talks to the star pianist about his musical world.

For Lang Lang, Rachmaninov holds sway as one of the most lyrical, romantic and passionate composers: ‘His music is just so beautiful but at the same time you always have a tear in your eye when you listen to his work.’ He sees the Second concerto as grand, expansive: ‘It’s almost like a phrase [that] never ends – it’s not only emotional but it has this enormous space. Russia is a big country, you feel her vast space.’

Tchaikovsky is represented too, in a second series of concerts with the orchestra. Lang Lang will play the Piano Concerto no 1 – the work that he says has helped to launch the career of a raft of legendary pianists. ‘Tchaikovsky was the piece that launched Horowitz, Van Cliburn, Richter, you name it; there are a lot of great pianists [who] came to world recognition because of Tchaikovsky’s no 1.’

Nevertheless playing the Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky concertos is very challenging, says Lang Lang, because everyone knows these pieces well, including people who are not regular lovers of classical music. ‘When you play what we call “old horses”… you really need to have something to say, otherwise it’s just an average kind of experience for people and they will lose interest, because the pieces are so popular – there are so many great interpretations already. So for me it is a challenge every time to play those pieces. You always need to play as if it’s the premiere.’

What does Lang Lang hope to say when he performs these pieces for Sydney audiences? ‘Everybody knows the pieces are very big sound and pretty grand. But [at] the same time they are very precisely planned in the composer’s mind,’ he says, describing the concertos as having rich musical colour and content, not just pieces of beauty and emotion, but works with great intensity of detail. ‘So that’s what I’m trying very hard to discover, something very precise to say, to play and to deliver those detailed emotions, detailed harmonies, detailed structures, detailed techniques, that very precise touch. But obviously you need a great partner, a great orchestra and wonderful conductor, to be supportive and to deliver the things you are trying to achieve.’

Lang Lang finds that partnership in the Sydney Symphony and the conductor Jahja Ling. ‘He is a very good friend and one of the really early supporters in my career, since the time when I was a teenager, so I am very close friends with him and his family.’ Lang Lang explains that this will be their first collaboration outside America. ‘It’s very exciting to play with him in another continent.’

Along with his two series of orchestral concerts, Lang Lang is also giving a solo piano recital, playing Beethoven’s Piano Sonata no 3 and the Appassionata Sonata, Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata no 7, and Iberia, Book 1 by Albéniz. ‘Those are actually a few of the pieces I learnt for many years,’ says Lang Lang. He explains that these are the pieces he grew up with; ‘you hear those pieces in every master class, when your colleagues [are] playing it, you always hear those works. And sometimes you remember beautiful performances and other times, standard performances.’ Lang Lang refers to the huge difference in interpretation between that of a creative and exciting performer and that of a good pianist whose individual character is less up front. He describes Iberia by Albéniz as a magical piece. ‘Spanish music is not played as often as Mozart, Chopin, Debussy. But for me Iberia is one of the best works produced by one of the best composers.’ Lang Lang says the piece represents a different kind of culture, Spanish culture, which people know a little less than Russian or French repertoire, for example. ‘I like to learn something new and bring the new flavour to my piano recitals.’

Beyond the busy international performing schedule that sees him criss-cross continents around the globe, Lang Lang is also deeply involved in musical education. The Lang Lang International Music Foundation aims to educate and inspire the next generation of classical music lovers and performers. ‘I really like to inspire children, [the] younger generation, to listen to classical music,’ he says. ‘You need to create interesting projects. And for me it’s a wonderful learning process, you learn a lot when you start doing a project.’

One such project is the 101 Pianists performances, in which 100 young piano enthusiasts come together for a master class and public performance with Lang Lang. So far events have been held in London, Berlin and San Francisco. Another project supported by the Foundation is The Young Scholars Programs, which seeks to identify and support talented young pianists between the ages of six and 11. ‘We need to always create something through new media and get connected to the general public, to the future potential musicians and music lovers and to inspire them to listen and to learn this art form which is classical music and piano,’ he says. ‘I believe it’s quite [an] important issue we are facing, because there are a lot of organisations in the word today cutting budget for music, cutting budget for orchestras, cutting budget for the opera house, around Europe, including Italian operas,’ says Lang Lang. He believes one of the problems is that the new generation don’t know about the classical music art form and don’t want to know about symphonies, operas and recitals. ‘That’s something to do with the whole budget, or where have parents who never had [an] education in music; they probably will not let their kids have music lessons because they don’t know about music. And that’s really a danger for culture and also frankly for the children who will grow up in the future because music is something that you can’t learn from textbooks, it’s something that you feel, you imagine, and you create or re-create.’

Lang Lang believes it’s important to connect with each other, communicate and share ourselves through music, making friends and learning about different cultures. ‘It’s really [a] very important thing for our world today; especially [as] we have so much conflict.’ Lang Lang says that music doesn’t have cultural barriers, because when you hear music, whether you know the language or not, understand the culture or not, you feel it straight away. ‘When you listen to a song, whether it’s Michael Jackson, or it’s a Schubert song or whether it’s a Chinese folk song, even though you may not know the lyrics, it touches your heart.’ Similarly with the piano there are no words, just the music. ‘That’s really a wonderful thing that you cross the barriers, break them down. For me as a kid – when I grew up I loved to listen to music from all over the world, including Chinese music, Russian music, Central Asian music, European music, American music, popular music, rock and roll. For me music is no barrier; it’s one world, it’s a very interesting, colourful world.’

LANG LANG IN RECITAL
Wednesday 8 June 8pm

LANG LANG PLAYS RACHMANINOFF
Friday 10, Saturday 11 June 8pm

LANG LANG PLAYS TCHAIKOVSKY
Tuesday 14 June 8pm
Concert hall, Sydney Opera House
Bookings: 8215 4600
www.sydneysymphony.com