Internationally, as a musician, there is only one Chinese known worldwide, and that is Lang Lang. Whether it is Teresa Teng, jacky Cheung or Mui Yanfang, as a musician, only Lang Lang. This is Lang Lang's position in the international arena. As a Chinese musician, Lang Lang has a lot of halos on his head, whether it is English reports or music reviews, there are a lot of praise for him, but there are some ironies hidden between the lines. For example, Lang Lang is called superstar superstar.
Superstar generally refers to pop singers, but when a piano-playing, classical-based musician is called Superstar, the reader can capture a hint of irony from it. Considering the evaluation of Lang Lang by other media, the negative meaning in Superstar is self-evident.
The evaluation of Lang Lang mainly focused on his performance. "Flamboyant" or "ostentatious" show-off, as an evaluation of classical musicians, is not a compliment, but a flirtatious performance that has sensational meanings. Some people have described Lang Lang's performance as a "gorgeous kung fu pianist", said that his performance is "noisy" strutting, "confusing" swooning, and some people say that his performance is like "sweet talk". How can a serious classical piano piece be "sweet talk"? Even when praising Lang Lang, the comments will use some very strange words, such as the American journalist Bob Simon called Lang Lang's mastery of the piano keyboard like "acrobatics". This is by no means a compliment, but rather that his skills, like acrobatics, do not have much soul. There are also accusations about lang lang's choice of repertoire, saying that lang lang specializes in playing virtuoso stuff, which are gorgeous things; saying that what he is looking for in the repertoire is a gorgeous side.
The fiercest critic of Lang Lang's piano performance was the New York Times music critic Anthony Tommasini. He called lang lang's performance, "often incoherent, self-intoxicating, ping-pong ping-pong" often incoherent, self-indulgent and slam-bang crass. "He (Lang Lang) is an actor who has been acting too much."
The criticism of Lang Lang involves not only his performance, but also his typhoon. Performing in Hong Kong in 2005, critics at the time used an English word for his typhoon: showman for showman. Using showman for a pianist is by no means a compliment. It seems that critics do not like it, seeing Lang Lang on stage, squinting his eyes and tilting his head, as if indulging in beautiful music, just like people see those fake pianists on the movie screen. They think Lang Lang has the feeling of being a showman. Even Lang Lang advertised Swiss watches, and a series of clothing designed for him by Adidas became a topic of conversation in the press.
This series of criticisms actually proves a fact from the opposite side: Lang Lang is already an international public figure. His every move has been watched by the art world, especially the classical music world. He has become a figure stalked by the mainstream Western media.
Lang Lang, 26, celebrates his birthday in Germany
But no matter how sarcastic music critics may be, Lang Lang's global appeal in the classical music world has made agents around the world fall in love with him. In the words of critics, Lang Lang is a "box office appeal" bankable. While some pianists could not perform several times a year, Lang Lang performed as many as 150 times a year until he temporarily bid farewell to the stage in 2017 due to tendonitis in his left arm. The renovation lasted up to a year. Foreign speculation is whether Lang Lang can repeat the stage.
While some people disdain Lang Lang's performance, others praise his talent. Daniel Barenboim, the current music director of the Berlin Opera in Germany, the Argentine Daniel Barron Boeing, once described Lang Lang this way: I am sure that he (Lang Lang) will not let you see, he has 11 fingers. He plays the piano like a cat with 11 paws. What could prove more than a metaphor for Lang Lang's piano skills, and that it was conducted by a top orchestra.
The Austrian Franzi Moster Franz Möst, currently the conductor of the Orchestra in Cleveland, admired not only Lang Lang's skill, but also admired Lang Lang's dedication to music. He said something that touched him. That was Lang Lang who came to Cleveland a few years ago to perform. Lang Lang asked Franz Most for Mozart's sonatas. To test whether Lang Lang was sincere, he told Lang Lang that if he came to the stage an hour and a half earlier, he would help. Unexpectedly, Lang Lang came. Franz Most said with emotion that Lang Lang was already a superstar, and he did not know how many people could have such a humble attitude.
Whether it is a superstar or a superstar, Lang Lang's achievements have been laid down as early as the age of 17. It was a summer concert in Chicago in 1999. At the last moment, Lang Lang took to the stage as an alternative pianist. The co-author is the master violinist, Isaac Stern. As a result, thunderous applause after the performance. Lang Lang became famous, and since then he has been out of control. In 2001 and 2002, Lang Lang appeared twice in a row in the coveted performance venue of many artists, Carnegie Hall in Lincoln Center, New York, and collaborated with the band. In 2003 he entered Carnegie Hall for the third time, this time in his own recital. Nowadays, he has performed in countless places. In 2007 he appeared on the Royal Variety Show, a major show featuring Queen Elizabeth II. In 2014, Lang Lang and the famous American metal band Metallica performed together at the Grammy Awards ceremony.
While Lang Lang was promoted to a world-famous pianist, he also received many criticisms. It should be said that Lang Lang became famous early and belonged to a genius teenager. As far as the fate of the genius teenager is concerned, the conductor Daniel Barron Boeing once said: Either the child is gone, and the genius is left, or the genius is gone, and the child is left.
Lang Lang in New York in September 2021
In 2017, Lang Lang temporarily recovered from his injuries and almost became a watershed. Lang Lang, who came back again, reduced the frequency of 150 games in the past year to 80-90 games a year. And he chose different tracks. For example, his 2020 recording is the German classical master Bach's 1741 Gothenburg Variations, which is called Bach's most difficult repertoire. Unusually, the German Record House, which released the album, simultaneously released two different versions of the Gothenburg Variations, one in Leipzig, Germany, at st. Martin's Church, and the other in the studio. The CD set received a five-star rating on Amazon.
For Lang Lang's comeback and his performance, the music critics seem to indicate that Lang Lang began to grow into a mature and deep pianist. In October 2021, Lang Lang played Bach's Gothenburg Variations at the Grimaldi Forum Centre in Monaco. After the end, amid the cheers of the audience, Lang Lang returned to the curtain four times.
Lang Lang, now 39 years old, thought he was a father, and the music industry's comments began to use "maturity" to describe it. In his aura, he is now "world famous", "the leading figure in classical music today", "the most influential in the 21st century", "educator and philanthropist". People have not forgotten that as early as 2008, Lang Lang established the Lang Lang Inernational Music Foundation in New York to support the growth of young people through music. So far more than 16,000 students have benefited.
It is impossible to eliminate criticism artistically. Nowadays, in the various comments on Lang Lang, there are criticisms of him, there are also praises for him, and at the same time there is a defense of Lang Lang. Internationally, there have been various debates surrounding Lang Lang's performance and his recordings. Isn't that a good thing for Lang Lang? After all, there are not many artists who can be high-profile!