Photo: © Felix Broede / Deutsche Grammophone
Well, for the orchestra, the anticipation came to an end around 11:00 a.m. this morning. The unassuming, young, Armani-clad Asian pianist strode onto the stage, was introduced to the orchestra to polite applause, and then proceeded to mesmerize much of the orchestra with his off-the-beaten-path approach to the beginning of Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto. I won’t give away how he does the beginning – it’s probably not much of a secret, but it’s better experienced with no advance knowledge, so I’ll leave it for you to discover if you have tickets to tonight’s sold out performance.
Playing on a lovely Steinway loaned to the orchestra by board member and long-time supporter Mary Tooze (she has two incredible Steinways in her home), Lang Lang brought boundless virtuosity and flamboyant showmanship to his rehearsal of this staple of the modern piano repertoire, and it made me look forward to what the added atmosphere of a live performance will bring to the table tonight.
He was also in command of the entire score – playing the full woodwind parts when the rehearsal stopped for some intonation work, then playing the viola part as we were asked to phrase a section solo passage in a particular way. It was impressive. He was also a gracious concerto partner – keenly watching principal players of the string and wind sections when their parts coincided with his, and gamely going over small passages multiple times in order for the orchestra and Carlos to get the timing just right for tempo changes.
It was a pleasure today to welcome the staff from the office of the Oregon Symphony to the otherwise closed dress rehearsal – their well-earned reward for producing a sold-out concert – it was good to see them in the hall enjoying themselves and seeing the fruits of all their hard work!
One reply on “lang lang is… good!”
It sounds like a great concert. I was sorry to have missed hearing him when he was in Toronto last week. It would have been great to hear what all the hype is about. From this report from the inside, so to speak, it sounds like he lives up to it.