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Chopin: The Piano Concertos | 
| Artist: Lang Lang
Creators: Chopin, Zubin Mehta, Vienna Philharmonic
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Category: Music
List Price: $16.98
Buy New: $10.05
You Save: $6.93 (41%)
New (30) Used (7) from $10.05
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 3411
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
UPC: 028947779841
EAN: 0028947779841
ASIN: B001BWQVT0
Release Date: September 9, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | I Allegro maestoso | | • | II Romance: Larghetto | | • | III Rondo: Vivace | | • | I Maestoso | | • | II Larghetto | | • | III Allegro vivace |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Album 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. Lang Lang has sold over 100,000 CDs in the US alone and will be on tour September to November throughout the US, including many performances of the Chopin concertos.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Beautiful playing, but the overall feeling is dull and lacking in brio September 9, 2008
Santa Fe listener
19 out of 24 found this review helpful
It's startling to read in the product description that Lang Lang has sold only 100,000 CDs in the U.S., despite his sold-out concerts and mass popularity. (Perhaps downloads account for the small disc sales.) On the four occasions that I've heard him, I was impressed by his sensitivity in Chopin, not to mention his overall command of touch and technique. At heart I think Lang Lang is a lyrical player, and although he can sound like a fish out of water when it comes to traditional German style, Chopin affords a lot of personal leeway (this latitude has also benefited his compatriot Yundi Li).
The Chopin performances on this CD will not suit anyone looking for extravert fireworks and nervous energy a la Argerich, or for the noble command of Michelangeli and Pollini. Zubin Mehta establishes a conventional framework that isn't high in energy, and the soloist enters Concerto #2 in a ruminative mood. Despite the ease of his passagework, Lang Lang phrases almost with hesitancy. The slow movement of #2 is sung gently, and here his phrasing seems just right in its balance of simplicity and freedom. The waltz finale feels too restrained, however, and lacks brio and spring.
Concerto #1 is deservedly more popular, but I wish Mehta didn't start out sounding so uninvolved. Lang Lang's playing is also too relaxed, lovely as it is. Not every note should sound like a raindrop. The slow movement of #1 is hushed but loses tension as it goes along. Keeping the line taut at such a soft volume is difficult. Heard as pure playing, however, Lang Lang again shows how nuanced his touch is. The finale is marked Rondo vivace, and one wishes for a lot more vivaciousness here. Only in the development section does the soloist find reserves of power and depth that make you pay attention.
In all, this doesn't sound like a young man's Chopin to me, and Mehta's dull accompaniment can't be the only reason.
 A sublmial reading of Chopin's: and I bet that's the way Chopin would have it! September 19, 2008
A. F. S. Mui (HK)
7 out of 11 found this review helpful
Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1, the second one composed by him, was first performed during one of Chopin's "farewell" concerts before leaving Poland. The treatment by Lang Lang and Mehta in this recording is suitably nostaglic, though in terms of tempo not nearly as fast as most other virtuoso (notably Argerich, Yundi Li).
First Movement:
The opening movement's nearly 4 minutes orchestration sounded languid, but the piece soon gained beautiful momentum once the piano solo entered - and note the beautiful touching Lang Lang gave, together with the lively nuances to each phrase! Then at around 9 minutes the development sections started to explode. You may argue that the orchestration again was not nearly as explosive - but is the piece really `explosive'?
The solo passages assuaged sorrow, soothed dejection, and gave a sublimal account of the colourful emotions starting 12:40 minutes. This is one of the best performances of the section I've ever heard of. The rest of the movement leading up to the grand finale is a sheer ethereal experience, and the cadenza from 18:30 onwards is a real poetic wonder in the hands of Lang Lang.
A word of caution - the sound of the orchestra is less than authentic. Listen to the introduction section, and the coda section - the winds were OUT OF TUNE!
The Second Movement `Romance' consists of an even-tempo romantic account without deployment of any excessive rubato playing or any dragging. The touching again accounted for the sheer beauty of tone and freely breathable phrasing.
The Third Movement Rondo Vivace is not as break-neck paced as Yundi Li's. Notwithstanding, the performance was not without brio or sparkle. The syncopations were clever, and the accelerando smart at 2:55 to 3:00. Lang Lang did not choose to pound his way home swiftly in this live performance, but preferred to play the movement with striking contrasts. The scales at around 4:30 were brilliantly and cleaning done. It is only at around 7:30 that one hears a slight `slacking' in the reigns both by the pianist and the conductor. This lasted for around one minute, leading to the grand finale - the Coda. As if `all quiet on the Western front', a hushed atmosphere anticipated the great `athletic run' in the Coda starting from 9:30. Notwithstanding Lang Lang's diabolical technique, the Coda of the Third Movement is admittedly somewhat of an anti-climax to a great performance. (A much earlier live performance by Lang Lang and Foster in Great Britain would serve to bring the contrast home.)
The No. 2 Concerto is a studio recording.
This time, the orchestra gives a beautiful introduction in the First Movement's opening. The piano enters in nostalgic gravity. The embellishments, crystal-clear in the hands of Lang Lang, bespeak the highly vocal style that this Concerto has came to be famous for. The First Movement is a finely woven piece both emotionally and technically. The section starting 7:20 is fiery and daunting, followed by waves of nuances on the piano, leading up to another heroic outburst at 10:25.
No. 2's Second Movement:
The ardour of Chopin's for the beautiful but unattainable young soprano Constancia Gladkowska, according to the liner notes, is being substituted for by Lang Lang's love for his parents.
The `new treatment' to this Movement involves some explosive moments by Lang Lang that are rather unexpected. Luckily, the piece ends in a poetic reverie.
The Third Movement is a more `cheeky' reading than the rest. The youthful playfulness of Lang Lang surfaces at random, culminating in a brilliant Coda, hovering over an overall wistfully poetic mood.
A new Rubenstein is amongst us !!! October 9, 2008
William C. Norvell, Jr. (Houston, Texas)
4 out of 11 found this review helpful
Bravo ! Bravo !!! Lang Lang is also a Chopin maestro. Phrasing extremely sensitive. A velvet glove masterpiece recording. Only the great Artur Rubinstein could match this style.
great recording. November 13, 2008
Masako H. Wittkopp
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
I had to buy the CD because I went his concert. Although it is not like alive concert, it bring back what I listened in Cleveland. Very happy.
Soft and Willowy Chopin, with beautiful interludes December 1, 2008
Abel (Hong Kong)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
The teaming up of the illustrious Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta and Lang Lang are nothing less than starry.
In terms of performance, it is quite another matter. The overall effect of these two works as recorded here is bass-heavy, gloomy and dreamy in turns, which has everything to do with accoustics, and without the requisite sense of direction, which has everything to do with the performers themselves.
One wonders what Lang Lang or Zubin Mehta was trying to say in these pieces, except that they are involved in making a jumble of beautiful sounds, and beautiful they indeed are, though the sounds are most of the time uninvolved and distant. Certain passages of cadenzas do shine out, though, but some how they seem more sporadic than bridging.
The No. 2 Concerto in particular suffers from this lack of direction and involvement. All too often it sounded like a classy display of pyro-technique by the soloist and orchestra in turn. At other times, it sounded like an elegant drawing-room piece, without doing any justification to the composer's style and his intentions.
Lang Lang did perform good Chopin before this recording - namely, with Lawrence Foster some years ago in a live performance available on Youtube. And I have been to a live performance of that work by him early this year.
Granted that Chopin is NOT his best choice; even so, he has said that Chopin is one of his favourite composers. One has only to hope that his love for Chopin would somehow bring him back home to the realisation that not all composers are to be played with the same style of interpretation, the same tone colour, and the same approach, however original and genuine that approach is.
What Lang Lang needs is not maturity - it is realisation of musical style. Clearly, he hasn't been taught much of that at conservatory. One could only hope that he picks it up in good time during his performance career.
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