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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
What a beautiful recording! Perhaps the most exciting thing about Lang Lang's playing is that when he plays softly and lyrically, he doesn't sound as if he's holding back; when he opts to stomp and yell, it sounds equally natural. The First Concerto is played with lightness and bounce in the outer movements and is as tuneful as imaginable in the stunning second movement's Largo. The Fourth Concerto is a whole other matter – mature Beethoven – and Lang rises easily to the occasion, playing with potency and handsome tone. The first movement makes us sit and admire his skill, and he is poetic and sensitive in the second movement. It would have been easy for him to run away with the final movement in a blaze of virtuosity, but he sticks to its classical outlines. These are superb performances, and the sonics are gloriously rich. --Robert Levine
Product Description
Lang Lang delivers his first-ever Beethoven recording, a stunning reading of the extensive Concerto no. 4 and the jubilant Concerto no. 1. Even though he has performed this repertoire extensively in concert, Lang Lang waited for the perfect moment and the perfect team to record his first pair of concertos from these milestones of piano repertoire When Lang Lang embarked on his international career, Christoph Eschenbach became one of his first and most enthusiastic proponents - and a mentor and close friend ever since, Eschenbach was the ideal collaborator for Lang Lang's first Beethoven recording. Nimbly supported by Eschenbach's superb Orchestre de Paris, with its tradition of having been the first orchestra ever in France to perform music by Beethoven, Lang Lang's performance gives further proof as to why he is one of today's most acclaimed pianists
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very musical Beethoven from a pianist fast maturing,
By Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)
This review is from: Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 4 (Audio CD)
Lang Lang has nothing to prove to the public, who have embraced him worldwide as a megastar. But critics are another matter. His meteoric rise came too fast for them, and they doubt his maturity, taste, even his sincerity. I for one am a fan, despite hearing one disappointing live recital in Boston, so I was eager to hear great things in this pairing of Beethoven's Piano Concertos #1 and #4.
To begin with, we get excellent sound from DG for both piano and orchestra, and Eschenbach leads the Orchestre de Paris in clean striaghtforward accompaniments. From the first entry of the piano, however, the spotlight is on Lang Lang. He shows a happy affinity for the First Concerto, keeping the rhythms light and springy; he punctuates a bit sharply at times but overall conveys buoyant cheer. The long, lovely melodic line in the Largo sounds as edelicate and refined as Mozart in Lang Lang's hands. The finale could show more brio but is fine. Is this a reading for the ages? No. One can think of several others, from Fleisher, ARgerich, Michelangeli, and Richter in particular, that scale the heights, while Lang Lang remains in the middle distance. His real challenge comes in the great Fourth Concerto, a much deeper work and one suited to Lang Lang's sensitive touch. Despite his reputation for keyboard wizardry, this pianist tends toward poise and luricism. Here he gets a chance to shine, which he does--within limits. The recorded history of the Fourth contains great readings from Gieseking, Edwin Fischer, Rudolf Serkin, Fleisher, and Kempff, just to mention a few favorites. Lang Lang plays very well, and he is never less than fine, but I don't hear enough individual personality. Marvelous as his technique and phrasing can be, he needs a decade more maturity. Overall, the musicality of these performances should quiet the critics if they are willing to listen honestly and not through preconceived notions. The fingerwork in the first movement dazzles, the hushed bridge between the slow movement and the finale brings a shiver, and the finale itself, if not up to Serkin's blazing standard, shows many nice touches. (I only wish Lang Lang had let himself go; the rhythms are a little cautious and foursquare.) Four stars are well deserved.
14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Limited Interpretation of Beethoven,
By
This review is from: Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 4 (Audio CD)
I've always felt that Lang Lang should restrict himself to Mozart and early Beethoven, and this recording of the Beethoven concertos convinces me further of this. His recording of the first concerto is fine; he gives a real sense of the classical period through a bold approach. However, when this same approach is applied to the fourth concerto, it comes across as raw and bland. Lang Lang has no depth of mood; he shifts between the only three colors he knows without bothering to connect passages together. This approach simply does not pass when performing a piece where the first movement alone is twenty minutes long. With such a piece, it is crucial to keep the "big picture" intact. Lang Lang knows how to make the piano sound strong, sensitive, or excited, but doesn't know anything between. This is not often a limitation with Mozart's piano works, which have the same sudden, constant mood-swings that characterize Mozart's personality, hence why I say Lang Lang should stick to the classical period.
What depth Lang Lang lacks aurally he tries to make up for with grandiose swaying and gestures in front of audiences, but with a recording there is nothing to cover up his disconnected, shallow sound. As a previous reviewer noted, the orchestra is quite subpar, though it doesn't detract too often from the piano, which is quite clear. Lang Lang shows off his technique through excellent articulation and velocity when necessary. However, his musicality is substantively lacking, and the essence of the music is left behind.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The image is bigger than the music.,
By
This review is from: Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 4 (Audio CD)
Yes, I feel that the Lang Lang image has overtaken the musicality. But I must give the young man some credit here; he has taken on a couple of very complex cadenzas, and he does play the pieces quite well. Beethoven certainly does run the gamut of emotions, and the joy is definitely missing in these performances. Lang Lang turns the listener's attention to himself with exaggerated rubatos and dynamics, but the technique is clean and smooth.
When I started my classical music label, I learned to listen to recordings on many levels and I must give credit to his recording team at Emil Berliner Studios. The production is flawless; the balance between orchestra and piano is perfect, the image is exactly as you would hear in the concert hall. Most people don't need the narcissistic 16-page booklet, so downloading is recommended.
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