Birthday boy Lang Lang is replaced by a drummer
mainThe Chinese pianist, still suffering from an arm injury, has cancelled upcoming concerts in London and Munich.
The LSO has flown in Leeds winner Denis Kozhukhin in a like-for-like substitution in Bartók’s second Piano Concerto.
Bavarian Radio, more daring by half, has called in the showman percussionist Martin Grubinger for an evening of bang-bang.
Lang Lang is 35 today.
Queen Elizabeth winner, not Leeds.
Denis Kozhukhin is a GREAT choice and I suspect superior musicianship.
Martin Grubinger is awesome. He played with the Czech Philharmonic last year and was a huge hit with what is usually a fairly conservative audience. And he can play quietly, too, as he showed in a brilliant encore on the marimba.
Very appropriate since Lang Lang plays the piano like a drummer.
Yuja Wang has just played Bartok 2 in Los Angeles. Surely a progression from Lang to Wang would have been more logical….
Wang has never played with Rattle, if I recall correctly.
Well there is always a first time. The Los Angeles performance was with Dudamel, a Rattle protegé, so the chemistry might have been OK. Wang doesn’t seem to be playing anywhere else around the Barbican dates. I would be surprised if she would have turned down the opportunity of two performances of the Bartok at sold out concerts at a major venue with a fantastic orchestra and conductor. Maybe she hasn’t learnt Brahms 1 yet – she is doing that with Gergiev in Munich on July 16. It’s not a piece that I associate with her.
Lang Lang replaced by Bang Bang. How appropriate!
Maxim Vengrov is replacing Lang Lang in Oxford on the 4th July, playing the Brahms Violin Concerto.