At the piano with Lang Lang
Sean visits Lang Lang at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam to discover his life on the road.
Sean Rafferty travels to Holland to meet the international pianist Lang Lang and finds him very much at home seated, of course, by the piano; this time at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Lang Lang takes a break from his busy tour schedule to give Sean a mini-masterclass on Beethoven’s Für Elise. They talk about Lang Lang’s passions and how his excitement for Tom and Jerry cartoons and Franz Liszt provided the catalyst for a young and determined pianist growing up in China.
Lang Lang began playing the piano at the age of three. He won the Shenyang Competition and gave his first public recital at five, before entering Beijing’s Central Music Conservatory aged nine. Lang Lang talks about difficult childhood times, practising for endless hours each day and night and about how he became an overnight sensation at seventeen when he stood in at short notice to play Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Today Lang Lang is spending a lot of his time immersing himself in the music of Beethoven, he demonstrates to Sean how he is exploring his technique as he prepares to play the concertos and record the piano sonatas. When on tour Lang Lang always visits the city’s museums and galleries. He is inspired by colour and today Sean and Lang Lang take time to stand in front of ‘Sunflowers’ at the Museum Van Gogh - Lang Lang is transported and immediately his mind turns to music and Schumann ...
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Music Played
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano sonata in A major, K.331 (3rd mvt - alla turca)
Performer: Lang Lang.- Sony Classical.
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Euphemia Allen
The Celebrated Chop Waltz (aka 'Chopsticks')
Performer: Lang Lang.- Deutsche Grammophon.
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Bagatelle in A minor, WoO.59 (Fur Elise)
Performer: Lang Lang. -
Franz Liszt
Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 in C sharp minor
Performer: Lang Lang.- Deutsche Grammophon.
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Sergey Rachmaninov
Rhapsody of a Theme of Paganini, Op.43
Performer: Lang Lang. Orchestra: Mariinsky Orchestra. Conductor: Valery Gergiev.- Deutsche Grammophon.
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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Piano Concerto No.1 in B flat minor, Op.23
Performer: Lang Lang. Orchestra: Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Daniel Barenboim.- Deutsche Grammophon.
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Nicola Porpora
Nobil onda (Adelaide)
Singer: Cecilia Bartoli. Orchestra: Il Giardino Armonico. Conductor: Giovanni Antonini.- Decca.
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Johann Sebastian Bach
Prelude in C major, BWV.846 (Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, Book 1)
Performer: Lang Lang.- Deutsche Grammophon.
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Teng Yu-Hsien
Spring Wind
Performer: Lang Lang.- Deutsche Grammophon.
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Huang Hai Hwai
Horses
Composer: Chen Rao Xing. Composer: Shen Li Qun. Performer: Lang Guo-Ren. Performer: Lang Lang. Music Arranger: Lang Lang. Music Arranger: Lang Guo-Ren.- Deutsche Grammophon.
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Trad.
Jasmine Flower
Performer: Lang Lang. Music Arranger: Peter Schindler.- Deutsche Grammophon.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano Concerto No.17 in G major, K.453 (3rd mvt)
Performer: Lang Lang. Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt.- Sony Classical.
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Sonata No.23 in F minor, Op.57 (Appassionata)
Performer: Lang Lang.- Sony Classical.
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Robert Schumann
Abegg variations, Op.1
Performer: Lang Lang.- Deutsche Grammophon.
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Frédéric Chopin
Etude in G sharp minor, Op.25 No.6
Performer: Lang Lang.- Sony Classical.
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Frédéric Chopin
Piano Concerto No.2 in F minor, Op.21 (3rd mvt)
Performer: Lang Lang. Performer: Zubin Mehta. Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic.- Deutsche Grammophon.
Broadcast
- Christmas Day 2019 13:00³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio 3