Lang Lang

I like living near a big city. Big cities have lots of events and things to do. They have world class orchestras with renown classical visiting artists. It means I finally got to see the superstar Lang Lang in person. I'm a big fan of Lang Lang. I love his biographical story where he grew up with parents who were both incredibly demanding and supportive that he play the piano, the trauma when his teacher "expelled him for lack of talent" from the conservatory, and especially because he became a piano phenomenon by overcoming immense obstacles through hard work and perseverance. Lang Lang has done more than any artist I can think of to promote classical music and the piano. He sponsors piano schools all over the world, gives master classes, has his Lang Lang foundation, features in multiple TV documentaries, gives many performances with all kinds of organizations, has lots of YouTube videos, etc. etc. He has crossover appeal and I love that he is making classical music more popular in this world.
Lang Lang has always had critics and detractors. I firmly fall on the side of thinking his contributions are positive. In my view, he is making classical music more popular. He appeals to a younger audience with his flamboyance and does lots of musical crossovers with pop and rock stars. I think that is a good thing. What's even better is that he is not all flash and lack of substance. When I was studying a Liszt romance, his recording on the "LISZT My Piano Hero" (Track 1) album was my favorite recording. He has technical chops and a wonderful understanding of music. I really enjoy watching his masterclasses (through YouTube ) and always learn a lot. He also talks a lot about hard work and practice and helps the public realize that the wizardry audiences see at the piano is due to an enormous amount of hard work. One my favorite quotes from him is: "All my colleagues in classical music have worked this hard, but nobody knows just how hard."
So, I was very excited when I found Lang Lang was coming to play with the Seattle Symphony. I was finally going to see Lang Lang play in person. I did some research about his performance and found that he was coming back after a significant injury. The New York times did not one, but two articles about his comeback. The articles mentioned that his style had changed after the injury, becoming more mature and less showy. Lang Lang played Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Seattle Symphony. I loved his confidence while he played and his total control of his performance. He seemed like he could do whatever he wanted at the piano. That was amazing to see. He didn't perform with many histrionics, but he did have more gestures at the piano (which sometimes did detract from the music), than typical for a pianist. However, I loved finally being able to see Lang Lang in person and also loved his technically brilliant encore (Mendelssohn's Spinning Song) which he played with ease. I hope Lang Lang continues his dazzling career for as long as possible.