Lang Lang plays Chopin: Ballade No. 3 in A flat major, Opus 47

Frédéric François Chopin :
Ballade No. 3 in A flat major Opus 47

Lang Lang, piano

[badbud]

Let him be him. There are dozens of beautiful classic performances of that piece available. Lang Lang comes up with a totally different interpretation. I prefer the "classic" ones over that one as well - I don't want to deny that - but in the end it enrichens our musical pluralism and it is definitely worth a view. If you don't like it, feel free to switch to the common interpretations. We should consider it a great good that we are born in times where we have the opportunity to hear thousands of different interpretations by different artists by one mouse click.

[kingsfort]

The camera loves him because he does show lots of facial expressions. If you listen to this without watching him you get a very different impression of what he does. It's the playing of impetious youth and as such is full of energy. I'm sure that Lang Lang being the musician that he is will revise these reading throughout his life. I personally prefer Cortot for his élan and sheer authority but I thnk it unfair to judge this performance on his face. We all know he makes faces. Just stop looking and listen instead.

[tylerdennison]

While I do not enjoy watching Lang Lang play the piano, I do not mind listening to him. This interpretation is very much outside the parameters of the traditional approach. That said, kudos to him for having the guts to play it how he sees and feels it. I wish more would play according to their personality, rather than trying to fit it with how things are traditionally done. Rachmaninoff always said he hated hearing other people try to play the way he played it. He wanted it played how you play it.

[MehdiD.Ardebili]

I have no doubt that Chopin would Hate Lang Lang! He once got pissed off when Liszt played his music in front of him and Chopin said to him “either play my pieces as I have written them or not at all!”

[tchykovsky]

Well, the earliest recording of Chopin is from Josef Hofmann who would learn from Anton Rubinstein, which is also the successor of Liszt. I have a hunch that this is inspired from all the liberties Mr. Hofmann would make and in some ways, the old age pianists made mistakes. Even some of Chopin's music has accidentals being questioned to this day. Be aware that Chopin once told a student that if he had his strength, there would be no strings left on the piano.

[davidofpiano]

Lang Lang has grown on me over the years, but this is such a departure from the score that it feels like a disrespect to the composer's intentions. It almost comes off as satirical at times, the extreme dynamic shifts, bangy fortes, bi-polar pedaling. I just don't get it, his technical control is incredible, why such goofy playing?

[guscox]

I was using this for a while to help me practice this ballade, but after the reading the comments i realised that you guys are sort of right! I listened to it again with fresh ears and realised that lang lang got a bit overexcited at 2:50, and the timing was to random for me. It sounds hammered - especially 3:10 (give it a listen...) seeing as he just entered a soothing passage!

[wwiththewind]

He has really good technique which enables him to play very fast even for some difficult passages. But he played way too fast and therefore not musical at all.

[Kachitower]

Well, this man plays many pieces beautifully, but this ain’t one of ‘em. Sometimes one hears a new take on a piece that is at once charming and refreshing, but this rendition of Chopin’s beautiful masterpiece offers neither charm nor refreshment. It’s simply bizarre.

[znrctrnn]

5:25-5:28 did he go too light. Listening to Zimmerman I hear more.

[J.Sharon]

We all listen to elegance of Chopin everywhere. He exaggerated the characters to maximize the joy of this piece and at his level of fame he has achieved, he can express what he feels. He played from his heart, not showing off as some people mentioned. Very expressive performance! He showed another dimension of this ballade.

[papa_mia]

Hi, I'm a biggest Lang Lang's fan and I think he is the best pianist that ever roamed the earth.
Oh and I'm braindead btw.

[johnnyyang]

This piece is supposed to be played gently. Lang Lang played violently in some parts of this ballade. His musical interpretation is ver different from the Chopin style that we are familiar with.

[juanoliva]

damn rip to this piece he kills like every intrlude

[daviddaratony]

Incredible performance. Sweet joy of following a melody through it's stream of notes.

[maxashkenazi]

he is one of the most impresive pianist that i have ever seen. i am a professional pianist also' and i know that he is not the conventional performer but i don't care

[stephenn]

I hate to complain, but not a good performance. The beautiful middle section with the right hand runs was just blasted through. Very bangy performance. No color, nuance or subtlety. He played this like a rock star, but not bringing out Chopin.

[Evanpianomaster]

Haters: "This is the worst performance ever! It's so out of Chopin's style!"

Same haters: "Glenn Gould is so unique and incredible! I love his unique interpretations on every piece!!!"

[michaelvin]

You can not say that he killed the ballade. You can say that you do not like this interpretation. Every pianist has his interpretetion, some people like it some others not that 's why pianists exist. Otherwise we would hear robots to play without any feeling. Interpretations are the beauty of music.

[konnichiyawasan]

at 5:40 mute the audio and watch the video as he emotionally chop some onions