Lang Lang: Dragon Songs (Plus DVD)

A Dialogue in Tradition

DRAGON SONGS is a spectacular endeavor and did I forget to say "what a value".

This is an absolutely wonderful DVD jam-packed with interviews and background information on all of these most beautiful Chinese works coupled with an accompanying CD. The DVD presents a documentary presenting the influences in Lang Lang's life and even paints a picture of his family portrait and the featured works are also shown being played in concert.

Lang Lang wanted to give tribute to his heritage and help promote the wonderful and rich tradition of Chinese music. He wanted to make this music more widely known and in this he has been remarkably successful.

He stated, "I grew up in a family of musicians- my father is an erhu (two-string violin) player, and my grandfather played the Chinese flute and a Chinese lute called the pipa. Whenever my relatives got together; we would have family concerts, with me at the piano - I tried playing the Chinese violin, but I was hopeless! I did a lot of mixing of traditions when I was a kid, and that's what I've tried to do on this album. I hope it wil open a door to Chinese culture and music for my audience, These melodies are heard all over China: I've known them since I was a baby. My mother would sing them, my father would play them. They were like fairytales for me."

One of the compositions featured is the Yellow River Concerto which was composed by Xian Xinghai in 1939 during the Japanese occupation. According to Lang Lang, the Chinese people went through a terrible ordeal in the last 150 years and it was felt that China's creative standing in the world had been lost; this piece is a reminder to him that as a people they can do great things again. One of his main reasons for doing this was for a cultural exchange. He said that "he loves the idea of making connections between Chinese culture and the rest of the world."

Also included is a haunting piece called "The Cowherd's Flute" by He Luting. In 1934, the first musical competition for the piano took place and eleven Chinese composers submitted a total of 20 works. This was the winner of that competition. It is a song which tells the story of a farmhand, poor and alone who plays the flute to his animals for their happiness and for his own. It is extremely well known in China. In fact, the number one instrument in China today is the piano. It is a "hot" instrument and in fact it is to China like football is to us.

Each piece of music has its own story and Lang Lang expertly and carefully tells the viewer the history, the meaning of the Chinese composition's title and what each composition is about and what the music conveys to the listener. He also reveals what he felt was the significance of each piece and what contributed to it being selected.

Family and tradition are such integral cornerstones in the Chinese culture. Meeting Lang Lang's parents; once a humble army musician married to a young dancer who made inordinate sacrifices for their one and only child gives us a glimpse into what drives this young musician.

Each one of the beautiful pieces included in this collection conducts the richest dialogue in what tradition means to the Chinese people.

Highly recommended.

Bentley/2008 October 23, 2008

Great job!

Regardless of what you think of Lang Lang, there can be no doubts that this artist is incredibly enthusiastic about his art. This enthusiasm is absolutely infectious. I've used this CD/DVD as part of a unit on Chinese music I teach to my middle school students. They were absolutely fascinated by this young pianist. It offered great information - it was not "dumbed down", but offered ideas they could understand. The documentary portion of the package helped inform them about what they heard on the CD.

I found these pieces utterly imaginative and full of wonderful colors and ideas. It was a pleasure listening to! October 1, 2008

Album of Utter Finesse

Many claim Lang Lang to have dire interpretational problem.
What in fact is 'interpretational problem'? There is simply no standard answer, as the topic is pure subjectivity.
That said, for those (Chinese especially) who claim that Lang's "Yellow River Concerto" lacks in any thing at all, I would rebut by a direct answer - Lang's Yellow River is his OWN Yellow River; not the one in the 1970's, nor 1940's.
Lang Lang grew up under the direct influence of Chinese music - his father was member of a Chinese performing troupe and plays the Chinese instrument erhu, as many may have known already.
This album compiles many songs that Lang Lang has grown up with, and he has a very intimate and personal approach to those songs, transcribed to the pianoforte.
Some diehard Chinese music followers query the combination of traditional Chinese instruments with the pianoforte in this album. Again, such worries are unfounded. Lang's ability to 'sing' on the pianoforte is abundant, and the pieces flow demurely and elegantly throughout the various tracks.
Just sit back and enjoy. Do not forget the truth that music is about the senses, not the critical cerebrum.
July 30, 2008

The Genocide Piano Concerto

If you are interested in the actual history of the Yellow River Concerto, check out the Wikipedia entry on this piece of music's sordid history. The concerto is the product of a People's Republic committee during the Mao regime (Mao's wife was in charge of the project). This is the same regime responsible for the deaths of millions of people during its reign.

The fact that Deutche Grammophon has released this work is particularly puzzling, since I doubt that they would record and release a work written during or about the Third Reich. July 29, 2008

Thoroughly enjoyable!

Recorded in Bejing in 2006, this combination CD/DVD from Deutsche Grammophon offers a comfortable mix of East and West in fourteen musical selections that run the gamut from major compositions in China such as the 1939 "Yellow River Concerto," running 20 minutes in four major parts and moods [This writer's favorite would be "Ode to the Yellow River" with its rich base and cello introduction and melodic, flowing low-to-mid range piano melody] to the simpler traditional sound of "Dialogue in Song" piano solo. The blending of styles throughout is intriguing.. "Ode," for example, alluded to above, might sound like something straight out an American western, depicting in music the rolling rich prairie land of the American West, yet the music was written as a string choral cantata during the Japanese occupation of China in 1939 and, according to Lang, was a piece "that helped bring back our energy and self-confidence - a reminder that we would do great things." In other words, the piece is, at its foundation, distinctly Chinese in origin. But this two-for package contains something else; it contains a bonus DVD, widescreen, beautifully filmed and composed feature about the pianist, his journey back to China, his concerts and personal glimpses of his family life and teaching techniques to some amazing students. It is a wonderfully entertaining, National Geographic quality tour of Lang's homeland as well as an entertaining - almost hypnotic - biography of this talented pianist. It is a thoroughly enjoyable CD/DVD combination that is hugely successful in what it sets out to accomplish, both musically and visually. This review appeared at [..] July 23, 2007

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