At 22, and the veteran of 17 years of concertizing, Lang Lang is no
longer a prodigy or a comet shooting across the musical horizon.  He
is in fact a mature and still-growing pianist, both a virtuoso and a
sensitive, affecting artist.

Returning to Herbst Theater for the third time in four years, Lang
Lang appeared Saturday in a San Francisco Performances recital that was
simply sensational.  The piano maven was still there, dazzling in Liszt's
"Reminiscences of `Don Juan'" and in the encore, "Racing Horses," with
Guojen Lang, the pianist's erhu virtuoso father.

But just before the hilarious duo of neighing instruments, Lang Lang
also played Schumann's "Traumerai" quietly, simply, gloriously.

After all the years in the spotlight, it's still somewhat surprising that
this young man with fingers of steel would play Haydn and Chopin, but
in fact he almost always does, and beautifully too.

The concert's non-showy section began with Schumann's "Variations on the
Name `Abegg' for Piano," in a fluent, charming, freely singing performance.
Haydn's Sonata in C Major was exactly right, quite unlike his performance
here of the E Major Sonata two years ago, which was stately and bordering
on pedantic.

The Chopin - "Andante Spianato et Grande polonaise brillante" - was
thrilling, the first piece with its floating, timeless quality, the
second with explosive power.

Tan Dun's first published work, "Eight Memories in Watercolor," an
interesting treatment of Chinese folk music in the manner of Debussy and
Bartok, anchored the second half, followed by Scriabin's "Etude in C-sharp
minor."

Perhaps the most striking quality in Lang Lang's performance is his
absolute mastery of the material.  Never do you see a score (open or
closed), never is there the slightest doubt that all the notes are there
and there will be no errors.  And yet, that's not Lang Lang's claim to
fame, but rather his outstanding performance in every aspect of music-making.

He plays with a fluency, a non-showy but deep and genuine intensity (free
of posing), perfect legato maintained in the midst of the greatest storm
of notes and, always, power on display and power in reserve.

Rather incredibly, this is still the portrait of an artist at an early
stage of his career.

As the years go by, the memory of a long-ago interview Yuri Temirkanov
is becoming more and more meaningful.  I asked who was his favorite
protege among the many young artists he has mentored and supported,
and unhesitatingly he named "this young Chinese boy who will become the
greatest pianist in the world." There is a good chance of that actually
happening.

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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