City after city, Lang Lang keeps playing

The concert pianist has an exhaustive schedule, but he would do more to bring classical music to the world.

By JOHN FLEMING, Times Performing Arts Critic
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 5, 2003

Lang Lang is on the jet set circuit. Seattle; Santa Barbara, Calif.; Anchorage, Alaska; Tampa; Washington; New York -- and that's just the pianist's recital itinerary for the first two weeks of April. Then he flies off to Asia, Europe and points beyond, concertizing all the way, some 150 performances this year.

"Almost every day another city. It's crazy," he said in a phone interview.

At 20, Lang Lang -- he always uses both names -- has come a long way fast. Born in China, he was still a student at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia when he started playing with major orchestras a few years ago. Now he is one of the rising stars in classical music. On Wednesday, he gives a recital at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, presented by the Florida Orchestra, with whom he has played concertos the past three season.

How is he handling the life of a touring virtuoso?

"You must be strong, you must be confident in yourself," he said. "Normally I try to find time to relax, to sleep, to go out. In Tampa, every time I go there, I try to get to the beach. It's a wonderful experience to travel the world. It's tiring, but it's very interesting."

At a time when many classical artists are losing their recording contracts, Lang Lang just signed with Deutsche Grammophon, arguably the most prestigious label. For his first DG recording, due out in June, he plays the Tchaikovsky B flat minor and Mendelssohn G minor piano concertos with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim.

The record company has big plans for using the ebullient Lang Lang as a draw for getting young people interested in classical music.

"To reach young people we have to get classical music on television," he said. "That's the first step. Then the next level is to bring them to a concert. I'm really confident I have the ability to bring them to classical music."

Lang Lang's recital includes works of Rachmaninoff, Haydn, Schumann, Brahms and Chopin. He'll also play Liszt's Reminiscences of Don Juan, drawn from the Mozart opera Don Giovanni.

"It's one of the most difficult pieces in the entire piano literature," he said. "It's kind of like you're taking a huge chocolate and producing a tiny little chocolate. Don Giovanni is three hours long; this piece is just 20 minutes. Liszt really knew how to make magic happen."

Lang Lang plays at 8 p.m. Wednesday in TBPAC's Morsani Hall. Tickets: $20-$42. (813) 286-2403 or toll-free 1-800-662-7286 or www.floridaorchestra.org.

Sarasota's Florida West Coast Symphony is on TV in a performance with Hollywood composer Elmer Bernstein conducting music from his film scores. Cinesymphony!, taped in January at Van Wezel Hall, touches upon highlights of Bernstein's long career, from The Man with the Golden Arm to Walk on the Wild Side, Summer and Smoke to Far From Heaven.

Interview segments with Bernstein yield interesting nuggets, as when he describes his memorable theme for The Magnificent Seven as providing a rather slow-moving film with some pace.

Unfortunately, the sound quality is poor and the presentation is pedestrian, mainly consisting of shots of the orchestra playing, composer conducting and an occasional photo from the movies. The orchestra is not really at its best in music that works great in conjunction with moving pictures but seems flimsy in a concert setting.

Cinesymphony! airs at 7:30 p.m. Sunday and repeats at 8 p.m. Thursday on WEDU-Ch. 3.

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