Lang Lang is stuck in the moral minefield of mid-career
Album Of The WeekFrom the Lebrecht Album of the Week:
... Lang Lang is right now in that moral minefield known as mid-career. He knows how he got in but has no clue where to move forward. This album is a compass failure on an industrial scale. No matter: You will hear these tracks in hotel elevators for the rest of your life….
Read on here.
And here.
En francais ici
Well, your review is a solid evidence of what lang lang promoted in his visit to Chinese Music Academy. He was highly proud of classical music development in China and at the same time he suffered greatly from western discrimination through his career.
BTW not sure why lang lang is still so optimistic on the market. One of the recent headline news is “Piano sales in China has dropped to only 30% of previous times”. Many local piano sales business are shutting down and piano teachers are looking for 2nd jobs.
Dear Norman. Dear, dear Norman.
Before you make sweeping statements such as ‘Poulenc wrote … no symphony or concerto …. unless you count a glompy thing for organ …..’ it might be worth trying a little research. Google would tell you that there’s a piano concerto, a double piano concerto, and a harpsichord concerto. All wonderful. I do recommend you get to know them. And, by the way, what on earth does ‘glompy’ mean? Poulenc’s organ concerto is a masterpiece!
There is also his Sinfonietta and his ballet suites. [redacted]
I have read your Poulenc review whole. Nothing substantial? No concertos?!? He wrote 5 of them, including the “gloopy thing”, but also including a brilliant one for 2 pianos, not remotely gloopy. Also try the Gloria (especially as transformed into ballet by Kenneth Macmillan) and the woodwind sonatas, among which the Clarinet Sonata is a masterpiece.
The Macmillan ballet with the Poulenc score is one of the most transporting ballets I have ever seen. And heard.
There are concerti for piano, 2 pianos, and harpsichord that are not at all “glompy”.
“He knows how he got in but has no clue where to move forward.”
How he got in was by pure hype in the low-end mass market how he moves forward is by pure hype in the low-end mass market.
I’d say he is exactly on the right track.
Even if he never leaves China or Disney, he has a built-in audience of a billion. (So long as he stays in the good graces of the Communist Party, ie, stay married, no hanky-panky)
Lang Lang has been, since the very beginning of his career, poorly advised, or he has refused to listen to any advice given to him. Of course his own personality is responsible for many of the disastrous decisions as well.
All the people managing him only saw him as a “cash cow” and exploited every opportunity, no matter how cheap, ridiculous and damaging it would be for his long-term career. Only short-term thinking has been used for him, as is so often both the American and Chinese approach to doing “business”.
He could get away with many of the cheap cartoon-like antics while he was still perceived as the young Chinese prodigy, but now, as a “mature” married adult man of 41 years old, the branding that was created around him doesn’t work anymore…a 41 year old man posing in front of a Disney inspired piano with gaudy cartoon characters painted on it doesn’t o him any service. It doesn’t fit nor work anymore and it makes him look ridiculous. It is a sad case, as had his talent been carefully developed, along with advising him on how to remain relevant well into adulthood, he would not have fallen into becoming a caricature of himself. It’s a very sad case.
Yuga Wang will also sadly fall into becoming a caricature of herself as well. Dressing as she does is provocative and creates buzz while she was still young and seen as an eccentric and extremely gifted young pianist. But also in her case, as she gets older, she is now 36 years old, she can no longer dress as she now does, without looking ridiculous, vulgar and disgusting. So, she too will lose her brand, as she has wrongly focussed so much on that “image”, of wearing clothes better suited for sex workers or entertainers in Las Vegas. How will she be able to walk out on a stage when she is 40, 45, 50, 55, 60 years old dressing and behaving as she does now. It will all look ridiculous and pathetic. Where are her managers and those who have a vested interest in the longevity of her career? They too seem only to be interested in short-term financial gains, with no concern whether her career can last long into the future. It’s a quite similar case as Lang Lang, with Lang Lang branding himself with childish cartoons and Disney characters, flashy cars, sequinned Liberace-like suits and Yuja Wang wears the trashy costumes that have become intrinsically linked to her identity. Both of them have chosen ephemeral branding and I would bet that neither will be relevant in 10-15 years, as sad as I feel saying that.
Not sure mid-career is a “moral minefield” for artists in general. Intelligent singers make choices based upon their maturing voices. I think many pianists continue to perfect and experiment with and expand their repertoires and the way they address them.
If Lang Lang is as mediocre as you have always maintained, then his current trajectory is right on target with his career path. Doesn’t strike me as a moral decision, more a practical one. His stated intention has always been to bring classical music to the masses. It may have been the wrong path from the beginning, but it has been his path from the off. And to a large extent it has worked. He is one of the few household name pianists in the world.
I have no interest in his association with Disney, but then I never see Disney productions of any sort — not since childhood, anyway. But I know several people who never went to classical concerts till Lang Lang came to town. Some of them, surely, will continue to go.
On the other hand, I had free tickets to a fundraising gala that headlined him, and whether because of the price of tickets or what they audience felt about him, they stayed away in droves. The venue was next door to a conference centre that was holding some sort of computer geek convention. The managers went in there and offered tickets in order to provide their guest artist with a decent-sized audience. I know this because I met some of them — noticeably scruffy among the black tie crowd — and talked with them. They enjoyed the buffet, and some even enjoyed the music. The discerning elements of the audience were more lukewarm.
I have heard him play well and I have heard him play adequately. I have never had to pay for tickets to hear him, and wouldn’t. I find his platform mannerisms irritating, and his playing middling. On his day he can deliver an agreeable reading of Chopin. But I have not heard him do a Mozart that in any way reaches me.
But I have met him, and have watched him teach. He is a nice young man, and not vain. What he does reach is young people, with his enthusiasm and openness. If he gets to them using music they feel comfortable with, perhaps he can steer them to the more challenging things he tackled from youth. If that constitutes a moral minefield, maybe we should welcome a few more of them.
Very interesting observations — good food for thought. Thanks.
Most annoying pianist in music history with Keith Jarrett in a close 2nd. But at least Jarrett created music.
“Mid-career” hasn’t been a “moral minefield” for….oh, let’s say to start with: Rubinstein, Manny Ax, Uchida, Milstein, Serkin, Rostropovich, Ohlsson, Argerich, De Larrocha…..etc ad infinitum….artists do have their ups and downs, and have to deal with whatever turbulence may exist in their lives, but careers based on being a really good player of one’s instrument don’t inherently bring such problems. Maybe it’s something else that accounts for certain artists having to dodge mines?
L.L. has been on a downward spiral since his immediate years following his debuts. Having heard him 3 times beginning in 2010 it is evident in his mannerism and musical excesses and repertoire choices. Even the first time he managed to flatline a Bach Partita, avoid all subtlety in a Schubert Sonata, mesmerize us with an entire opus of Chopin Etudes whilst keeping the nonsense somewhat in check. Fast forward a few later and seasons the mugging, eye bugging, musical excesses and over-the-top gestures go forfront and musical distractions are his priority. He can take his money and retire now because he really is a circus act as far as serious Classical artists are concerned. The self-inflicted career damage is complete.