Review of Lang Lang – Saint-Saëns

Here he is the king, here he can constantly slip into different roles, animal roles of course, but they also reflect characteristics such as frenetic, majestic, dreamy… The pianist Lang Lang has recorded “Carnival of the Animals” and Saint-Saëns’ “Second Piano Concerto. He plays as versatile as a fish, Elegant like a swan, roaring like a lion. He can do it, but in the Piano Concerto it becomes clear that he is capable of many things as a pianist, but his playing has not developed further. The impression remains over and over again: Lang Lang plays the piano well, but he barely penetrates it More than that. The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Andris Nelsons, may provide colorful assistance. The rest of the program is French-influenced and colourful, with arrangements and four hands alongside Jenna Alice. Here too: you have to specifically look for the nutritional value behind everything bright and lots of sweets.

Saint-Saens
Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals, Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22, Etude, Op. 111 et al., works by Ravel, Debussy, Fauré, Delibes, Sohe, Varenc, Schwanzwehr, Bonis, L. Boulanger

Lang Lang (piano), Gina Alice (four-hand piano), Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Andris Nelsons (conductor)
German gramophone

Andris Nelson

Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons was born in Riga in 1978 and grew up in a family of musicians. He early took trumpet lessons at the Emil Darzens Music School of the Riga Conservatory, and later studied at the Latvian Academy of Music…More

Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra

The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra is one of the world's leading orchestras, with approximately 185 musicians, and is currently the largest professional orchestra in the world. At the same time, it is the oldest civic orchestra in German-speaking countries and is largely responsible for…More

Long long

Lang Lang began playing the piano at the age of three. At the age of five, he won the Shenyang Piano Competition and gave his first public piano recital. At the age of nine, he studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Him…continue