For us Classicalites, the intimate splendor of Chopin and Tchaikovsky's solo piano music still resonates well across the centuries. And the transcriptions. There's a kind of beauty, even a turmoil, inside its sounding realm, as well as outside of it.
Leave it, then, to the world's foremost pianist to encapsulate all of these complex emotions. Yes, Chinese pianist Lang Lang's new album, titled Lang Lang in Paris, is coming out Friday, October 9 via Sony Classical.
Not to be confused with the running of the jewels from Jay and Kanye, Lang Lang in Paris takes form care of a June 22, 2015 recital, where L.L. ably performed Chopin's four grand Scherzi. Also on that program were 12 pieces Nikolai M. Bernard, editor of St. Petersburg music magazine Nouvellist, commissioned Tchaikovsky to compose in 1875--the rarely heard but certainly still masterly cycle, The Seasons.
The CD of Lang's Chopin and Tchaik was made in the Salle Liebermann at the Opéra Bastille; the DVD/Blu-ray live concert was filmed (in ultra-high defintion 4K) in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles for release.
And as Lang Lang aptly describes that venue in this Classicalite premiere below, "it's what you see in a dream, a good dream."
Available as well on 180-gram vinyl, be sure to put in your pre-orders for Lang Lang in Paris on Amazon.
One of our most sensitive Chopin interpreters behind the keys--after it all, The Chopin Album of 2012 remains his best-selling Sony album to date--Lang Lang has a special history with Tchaikovsky, too. Classicalites of a certain vintage will recall how, at age 17, he stood in for André Watts with the Chicago Symphony in the composer's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23 at Ravinia's "Gala of the Century."
"Even though there are not so many notes compared to more virtuostic pieces," Lang says of The Seasons, "the harmony that Tchaikovsky creates within these notes is incredible. His timeless melodies have a kind of pain that he always turns into beauty."
Tracklist:
CD 1:
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Scherzi
1. Scherzo no 1 in B minor, Op. 20 (1831/2)
2. Scherzo no 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 31 (1837)
3. Scherzo no 3 in C-sharp minor, Op. 39 (1839)
4. Scherzo no 4 in E Major, Op 54. (1842)
CD 2:
Peter Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
The Seasons, Op. 37a (1875/6 )
1. January: At the Fireside (A Major)
2. February: Carnival (D Major)
3. March: Song of the Lark (G minor),
4. April: Snowdrop (B-flat Major)
5. May: Starlit Nights (G Major)
6. June: Barcarolle (G minor)
7. July: Song of the Reaper (E-flat Major)
8. August: Harvest (B minor)
9. September: The Hunt (G Major)
10. October: Autumn Song (D minor)
11. November: Troika (E Major)
12. December: Christmas (A-flat Major)
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