CityLife

Piano superstar Lang Lang happy to cross boundaries

Lang Lang

Bridgewater Hall - Friday May 27, 2011

Lang Lang is a superstar. There’s no doubt about it. And for a classical piano player, that’s going some. There probably hasn’t been anyone since Franz Liszt who has had the same kind of adoring female following and idolization combined with serious respect from the classical music fraternity.

He has youthful good looks, which obviously helps. And he acts on stage more like a rock star than a solemn interpreter of the great masters. He has had more exposure than most, too – including playing at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

It is almost a surprise to notice that his first UK tour began with a visit to Manchester, 10 years ago, as the guest of the Hallé.

I asked whether he remembered much of his first time in our fair city.

“I went to the Manchester United stadium,” he said. “And also I remember there were some pretty nice sights in your Chinatown . . . and also the Bridgewater Hall, of course.

“It was really good to play with the Hallé Orchestra – and in Chinatown the food was very good. I saw a good Chinese friend, En Shao (who was then working with the BBC Philharmonic orchestra), and I went to his home for a really nice party.”

Did he think he’d changed much in the past 10 years? And has his playing changed? He speaks with the diplomacy of one who doesn’t want to sound cocky, but wants people who’ve heard him before to feel he’s still got something to offer now.

“My style has not really changed, but I am trying to improve all the time, and I work very hard to get deeper into music and to make my understanding better.

“When you are working hard on ideas and meeting many great musicians, your understanding is also improving. And the more I experience, the more I have to say in music.”

In fact, he’s been working more with non-classical musicians in recent years.

“Last year I played a piece written for me by Paul McCartney – I met him and played, and he told me what he wanted in the music. He had wonderful musical thoughts, and I learned great things from him.

“I’ve worked with Herbie Hancock, and I’d like to work with other jazz artists and singers – and there are some great artists in the hip hop world. I worked with Wyclef Jean in a concert for victims of the Haiti earthquake and I have done a piece by David Foster – it was a song for Andrea Bocelli and me.”

Back home in China, thousands of youngsters want to play classical piano like him. He already has his own charitable foundation and says he’s hoping to create a specialist school for piano playing in China.

As one who got thrown out of his piano class at one stage for not practising enough, he knows how much of a grind traditional training can be.

“I want to inspire more students to learn the piano and to put time into practice. And one of the problems of classical music is that there is a difficulty in understanding it and getting involved – especially for the younger generation.

“It’s quite urgent to pay attention to that. We need to get together with the ordinary schools.”

He says his advice for a youngster with gifts in the classical direction is: “Really enjoy the moment, in both practice and performance. Most people, if I ask why they don’t practise any more, say they lost interest – or they say you can’t really use it, like you can a rock guitar.

“Somehow I think you have to keep the interest and enjoyment. Look into fresh repertoire – and don’t always play in the same kind of style. Find something that’s from a different culture and get into it, when you’re learning something else. That’s what works for me.”

His programme for Manchester tonight has a wide variety. He starts with Beethoven’s sonatas no 3 and 23 (the ‘Appassionata’). “I recorded these two sonatas last year – one is early and one more mature. But both are very deep – especially in the slow movements.

“The Appassionata, though, is a huge challenge for any pianist. I think this shows the real Beethoven, his passion and personality. There are explosive contrasts and the mysterious heartbeat that makes his music unique – different from any other of the time.”

He goes on to play Book One of Albèniz’s Iberia. “I learned it when I was in America – I’d not known it in China as a child.

“I love the colours, the impressionist background – it has a strong tie with French culture, too. And I hear an Oriental flavour, too. I think Albeniz is one of the few successful crossover artists!”

Finally, there is Prokoviev’s mighty seventh sonata. “It was composed during the war – when Prokoviev wrote several sonatas which are a kind of tribute to that time. You can feel the emotion, the tragedy and the victory.

“He said he had seen dead people in the streets at the time he was writing it.

“There are a lot of scary moments and cold, painful moments, but there’s warmth and fire on top of the cold and loneliness. It’s almost as if the pain has been overcome by beautiful emotions, and in the end it’s very positive – like an evil spirit that you try to overcome.”

Lang Lang plays the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, Friday May 27 at 7.30pm. Tickets £25.53-£56.17.