The Magic of Lang Lang

Piano purists might as well not start this Deutsche Grammophon disc called The Magic of Lang Lang. The eponymous Chinese super virtuoso isn't playing for them. With his technique -- check out his dashing Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 or his smashing Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 -- Lang can clearly play rings around purist favorites like Alfred Brendel and Maurizio Pollini. But while piano purists acknowledge Lang's dexterity, expressivity, and manic energy, his flamboyant gestures, extravagant pyrotechniques, and exaggerated tempo rubato have always rubbed them the wrong way. And a disc that's essentially Lang's greatest hits is unlikely to get a fair hearing.
So who is Lang playing for? With his ravishing Rachmaninov 18th Variation from the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and his seductive Liszt Liebestraum, one might guess he's playing for an audience of piano lovers. With his crackling Mozart C major Sonata and his biting Haydn C major Sonata, one might guess he's playing for an audience of piano students. And with his evocative Wencheng Autumn Moon on a Calm Lake and his atmospheric Prelude from the Yellow River Piano Concerto, one might guess he's playing for an audience of his countrymen.
In the end, however, one suspects Lang plays only for himself. He disregards the letter of the score. In his performances, tempo indications, dynamic markings, even modes of articulation like staccato and legato are ignored or reversed more often than followed. He disregards the spirit of the music. Under his hands, Schumann's "Träumerei" from Kinderszenen sounds not intimate but affected. Chopin's Finale from the B minor Sonata sounds not fearsome but disingenuous. And with only the notes left and every other element in the performances up to the taste and discretion of the player, the music here sounds less like actual original but rather a fancy-free fantasia on the original. This isn't Liszt's C sharp minor Hungarian Rhapsody or Chopin's D flat major Nocturne; it's Lang's Hungarian Rhapsody and Lang's Nocturne. By any meaningful measure, this isn't liberty, it's license. There is magic in Lang's playing, but it's a glamorous, an insidious, even pernicious magic by which gold is transubstantiated into dross. Taken from a variety of live and studio sources, DG's sound varies from close to distant, from tight to loose, and from clear to muddy.