Teaching Lang Lang & Yuja Wang

Watch the full interview with Gary Graffman, exclusively on tonebase!

Celebrated American pianist and professor Gary Graffman talks about his first encounters with then-teenage prodigies Lang Lang and Yuja Wang, both of whom studied with him at the Curtis Institute of Music.

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[hb]

The radically different styles of Yuja and Lang speak wonders to his teaching ability. A truly fantastic teacher brings out the best in his students (not carbon copying each student and providing identical models), and the difference between Lang and Yuja is evidence that this is exactly the kind of person he is.

[michaelprozonic]

the Horowitz / Yuja overlay at the end was great

In one week I enjoyed the concerts of the two best pianists in the world in Prague. 24.4. Yuja Wang at 30.4.2022 Lang Lang.
Fantastic experience.

[cageynerd]

Yuja's Prokofiev 2 with Berlin Philharmonic stands as the greatest performance of a concerto I have ever witnessed in my life. At the end, I panicked -- I didn't know if I was going to cry or freak out, or have a mental breakdown. The technical level of her playing was Earth shattering to me -- but her Mozart encore settled me down. Really lucky to be alive to witness her type of playing. It doesn't suit ALL concertos for sure -- but to witness such technical prowess, it is like witnessing the birth of a nano-supercomputer -- at that level of like, this is crazy stuff. And within it, her interpretation and the level of revelation for that concerto -- it made it my favorite concerto of all time instantaneously...

[DellDreamer]

Gary Graffman has another student from China, Haochen Zhang, the Cliburn winner. Zhang is more reserved, but very talented as well. Although Zhang still gets to play with top orchestras such as Philadelphia, Boston, NY Phil, Berlin and Scala, he deserves better visibility. He needs a better agent for sure.

[prokastinatore]

More important than performing as fast as possible by avoiding "wrong notes" is a high knowledge of the art of composition itself, the meaning of it, the comprehension of it and tons of poetry, lyrics, literature, politics and history. Arthur Rubinstein communicated in 8 foreign languages and was familiar with paintings, books and different cultures. That's the difference compared to our entire times.

[zjcffqe]

Amazing.... they each have their own style of play and that is one remarkable teacher to be able to teach two different personalities of play.

[charles.e.g.]

I love seeing that direct musical lineage from Horowitz to Graffman to Yuja.❤

[dennispearson]

I LOVE THIS !!!...To Think that this One man has molded the 2 Greatest Piano GENIUSES of the 21st century is MIND-BOGGLING !!!...Not Since Bach taught some of His Children, Has one man had so great an impact on classical music !!!...

[gracesu-weatherby]

Two talent meet great mentor = super star Journey began✌

[ALWH]

I love Yuga Wang, she has strong fingers and speed, very powerful.

[jimyoung]

Gary Graffman/George Szell performing Prokofiev Piano Concerto 1&3 has been one of my favorite albums for over 30 years. This guy is amazing.

[rationalmusicstudios]

She was an old lady 👵🏻 she was already 15!!! 😂

[shishnarfne]

My god, Yuja plays the Elliott Carter sonate?!? I'd love to hear that.

[helenrushful]

The real teacher of these pianists are the teachers who taught them from scratch. That’s where the real work goes in.

[professor_thunder]

I tear up watching Yuja. Can't help it.

[ralphmiller]

Gary Graffman along with Leon Fleischer both suffered an onset of focal dystonia in their right hands which took them out of the performance arena. It afflicted Fleischer in the mid-1960's and Graffman much later. Both men suffered a tremendous loss and I wonder if that contributed to Graffman being such a great teacher, perhaps that he could still perform through his students.

[enriqueali]

When Curtis basically creams off the best of the best via their uitra-selective audition process, it becomes far easier for their star faculty members to help create and promote future performing luminaries. I'd like to think that phenomenally gifted pianists like Lang Lang and Yuja Wang would have still achieved their pre-eminent positions had they studied at any other of a handful of highly ranked musical institutions.

[georgesealy]

It takes a special person to want to be and to become a concert pianist. And it takes a special teacher to take a great student to the highest level. It is interesting to learn how the process takes place.

[ggwebcast]

A great teacher helps his students develop their own style and interpretations. Gary Graffman has certainly done that and elevated them to the highest level🥰