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There is no doubt who was the star of The pianoThe television series in which public members are filmed by playing pianos in stations and emotions have run at the top as new talents are discovered, said sincere stories.
When Lang Lang announced last summer that he was leaving the show, his admirers went online to say that the program would never be the same again, although it is not as if the very efficient Chinese pianist can be accused of resting his laurels.
This solo recital at the Barbican is only a stop during a vast world tour that lasts well in summer, because it takes the same program in Spain, Southeast Asia and Australia.
Lang Lang's reputation is as a showman, but the programs he chooses for his recitals do not confirm it. During the pandemic, he concentrated on Bach Goldberg variationsSo Lourti a challenge they come, and this recital tour offers basic classics, even if they have sometimes received the Showman treatment.
The program started slowly, slowly, with Fauré Pavanon tiptoe in audibility. It was the layout of the slow dance piano usually heard in the sweet orchestral version of Fauré. In the hands of Lang Lang, the music sparkled in a foggy glow, although the composer's game is said to be quite lively, not romantic with indulgence like this.
In 2008, the year he played during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games, Lang Lang brought in London a performance by Schumann fantasy in C, which took a tour of the tip in exaggeration and inconsistency. There was still something here in Schumann Krisleaniana. Here are the two sides of Schumann's personality – the impulsive Florestan and the Eusebe Dreamy – and part of the challenge is to draw details and an expression of Schumann's complex piano writing for everyone. While Lang Lang Lang teases well the interior thoughts of Eusebius, he considers Florestan as an opportunity to play big, noisy and fast, in head head down to the finish line of the work, as if she opted for the gold medal in the hedges of 100 meters.
A well -controlled selection of a dozen Mazurkas Chopin after the interval restored a feeling of proportion. These are wonderfully subtle pieces, which explore the unexpected roads, as if they wander on the main path just to enjoy wherever the path can train me. Lang Lang was at its best in some of the most beautiful of them, such as Op.33 n ° 4, which is popular, where the changing sands of harmony suggested the deepest of the feelings below.
After so much introspection, the program asked for a more extroverted end. In the Polish Minor F Sharp of Chopin, it meant a real rabbid root – as being caught up in a battle, any noise and fury, although it is good to know that Lang Lang can always eliminate the ocean oars as quickly as anyone. The cheers and two reminders followed.
★★★ ☆☆
