Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn: Piano Concertos (CD review)

Lang Lang, piano; Daniel Barenboim, Chicago Symphony Orchestra. DG B0000666-02.

An obvious word of caution: Any musical artist’s interpretation of a work is just that, an interpretation. Likewise, any music critic’s review of a performance is an opinion, a reaction to that interpretation. One cannot say either the artist’s interpretation or the critic’s reaction to it are right or wrong, correct or incorrect, in any absolute sense. One can make the case that there are virtues to every performance and leeway for reaction to every performance. If there were absolute right and wrong performances or reactions to them, we would no longer have interpretations or opinions about them; we would have truths. I mention all this because people sometimes get annoyed when a reviewer doesn’t see a performance the same way they do. And this is especially the case when the performer instills such emotions in listeners as Lang Lang does. His followers cry bloody murder when a critic disparages anything he does; his detractors cry foul when a reviewer says anything nice about him. Understand, it’s in the nature of criticism to have people agree or disagree it. It’s what opinions are all about.

Anyway, the disc under review was Chinese pianist Lang Lang’s debut recording for DG in 2003, and a daunting enterprise it was for a man just twenty-one years old. There is surely no doubting Lang’s technical keyboard expertise, but the results of the performances here are something of a mixed bag, though most of it is good.

The pianist and his accompaniment, Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony, take a bold, fast, sweeping, highly charged view of Romanticism’s most famous concerto. They get Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor off to its usual bang-up start from the opening chords, but then it never seems to let up through the entire first and third movements. Only in the first section of the second movement does Lang show any great degree of subtlety or repose. Otherwise, he appears to know only one speed: to charge full ahead with broad but highly controlled variations of tempo.

Nonetheless, while it’s all rather in high gear, Lang makes it work through the sheer brilliance of his virtuosity, and he gives us an intensely exciting presentation, to be sure. Still, compared to the maturity of some of his rivals--for instance, Cliburn (RCA), Giles (RCA), Argerich (DG or Philips), or Wild (Chesky), to name a few--he seems more than a little youthfully impetuous. Not that that is a bad thing, of course, and there is no question the second movement is hauntingly serene. But considering that Cliburn was about Lang’s age when he made his own famous recording, it cannot be entirely attributable to age alone.

Coupled with the Tchaikovsky is the lesser-known Mendelssohn First Piano Concerto, which I suppose DG intended as a more-relaxed and lightweight contrast to the fiery Tchaikovsky. However, the way Lang handles it, the Mendelssohn piece comes off almost as highly charged as the Russian’s. There is not as much singing rhythm or lyrical grace in the Mendelssohn as I would have liked, although there is much skillful brilliance and whizbang accomplishment.

Just as Lang’s playing will wow the crowds, so will DG’s sound turn some heads. Recorded in Chicago in 2003, it’s big and bold and reasonably clear from the opening bell, just like the performances. Still, like Lang’s interpretations, one notices almost immediately that something is just a little off. The dynamics are strong and impact is powerful, yet the piano overshadows everything else. Indeed, the piano appears to be twenty feet long and ten feet high, bigger than the orchestra behind it, while the orchestra itself produces a sound that seems slightly soft and rounded and a bit congested in the loudest passages. It sort of spoils the effect of Tchaikovsky’s biggest and most-popular melodies by almost drowning them out.

I don’t mean to seem harsh, and given Lang’s extraordinary talents I’m sure he will continue to be a dominant force in the musical world for rest of our lifetimes. However, insofar as the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto goes, the recordings I mentioned earlier seem to me more reasonable first choices, unless you’re a die-hard Lang Lang fan or you simply have deep enough pockets to buy every new and different version of basic repertoire items that come along. Certainly, for a lot of collectors the latter argument is valid, in which case Lang Lang’s view of Tchaikovsky may be of extreme interest. Besides, who knows, you may find it a treasure.

JJP

To listen to a few brief excerpts from this album, click here: