Lang Lang (郎朗) has passed beyond being a youthful phenomenon and now has to compete with the truly great. That he is well on the way to entering this most exalted category is demonstrated by the marvelous Lang Lang Live in Vienna DVD, new from Sony Classical. The whole product is superbly put together, with highly intelligent cutting from facial expressions to hands, and Lang Lang’s intrinsic artistry apparent at every moment.
It begins with two Beethoven sonatas (Sonata in C Major Op. 2, No. 3 and Sonata in F Minor, Op. 57, No. 23 “Appassionata”), the pianist’s first ever recording of such music. As always, Lang’s emotions are manifest from the beginning. His joy at the charm of No. 3 is evident in his whole physical style. He starts by treating it as a plaything, then warms to its inner strength and formal grace.
Lang is a supreme teacher, leading viewers of this DVD bar by bar through the music he plays, and showing us how to understand it simply by the look on his face. The educational potential of this DVD is thus incalculable.
After the two Beethoven items he proceeds to some impressionistic pieces from Albeniz’s Iberia, and then gives us Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 7, one of his “War Sonatas.” After he’s added three Chopin items as encores, we come to appreciate the serious range of this hugely talented pianist.
Initially, though, there are reasons to resist this item. It’s Lang’s first DVD since he signed with Sony, the company is pulling out all the stops to promote it, and sponsorship deals are on every hand. But Lang’s immense charm and artistry overcome all reservations, and the result is a highly desirable, indeed lovable, recording.
From time to time it’s possible to detect a slight unease among opera enthusiasts. Why should it be, they appear to wonder, that all the most popular works in the genre were composed between the early 18th and the early 20th centuries, with few if any guaranteed favorites after that? It’s true there are Britten’s contributions, plus Shostakovich’s and Bernstein’s, together with rarely performed works by lesser luminaries. But perhaps, they muse, there are genuine masterpieces lying disregarded somewhere in the undergrowth?
Szymanowski’s King Roger (1926) has its champions for this role, among them Valery Gergiev and Simon Rattle.
A new DVD from two English National Opera veterans, conductor Mark Elder and director David Pountney, also clearly intends to demonstrate its claims. Unfortunately this proves to be a harder task than its progenitors envisaged.
Roger II was one of the Norman kings of Sicily in the 12th century, and here we see him coming under the sway of a new, pagan religion, personified by a visionary shepherd and characterized by nature worship, frenzied dancing and eroticism. This was a mix very much in the air in progressive circles in the 1920s, and Szymanowski’s opera, with its Straussian, Ravel-like music, could well have become a major success, despite its Polish libretto. It didn’t. Could it be, though, that its time has finally arrived? Unfortunately this production is not one that’s going to catapult it into belated glory.
“I stir the secret depths of life’s fire with my almighty hand,” sings the Shepherd, while others enticingly evoke “the pale and secret stars.” King Roger eventually succumbs and becomes a pilgrim under the new faith, but that’s about it.
The opera’s problem is that it lacks any surefire dramatic development.
“No characters, no tunes,” wrote the English poet W.H. Auden about Janacek’s operas. He was wrong in that case, but the objection has some validity when applied to Szymanowski. This production, in addition, does little to enhance what story there is. It’s largely abstract — surprisingly, coming from Pountney — and the extensive use of primary colors is no substitute for detailed stage realism. Its three intended settings (in a cathedral, outside the palace gates, and in an ancient Greek amphitheater) could have proved visually seductive, but they’re barely hinted at here.
The critic Peter Conrad observed that opera has always been anti-establishment, celebrating revolutionaries, servants, mad women and rakes. A Christian opera is an improbability (Parsifal being a debatable exception). So in theory King Roger might have worked. Sadly it doesn’t, at least not in this production.
We reviewed pianist Yuja Wang’s (王羽佳) debut CD in August. Now here she is playing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 at the Lucerne Festival, with Claudio Abbado conducting. He goes on to conduct Mahler’s First Symphony in the program’s second half.
What comes as a surprise is that it’s the Mahler item that leaves the much stronger impression. This is a riveting performance, so consistently beautiful that it’s hard to believe at times. Abbado’s may well be the finest version of the symphony available anywhere on DVD. His conducting of Mahler’s symphonies No. 2, No. 3, No. 5, No. 6 and No. 7 with the same Lucerne Festival Orchestra has already been issued by Euroarts to great acclaim. This wonderful version of No. 1 now adds to the illustrious series.
As for Prokofiev, that Frenchified Russian so often over-tart and even testy, he was, despite everything, an artist who could rise to the challenge of war and violence (as Lang demonstrated). Wang delivers a strong rendition of his forceful third piano concerto.
It’s a work that’s very much up the street of this no-nonsense, tough-minded young artist. But it’s another tribute to Abbado’s great achievement with the Mahler symphony that it trumps even this memorable performance.
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