# Lang Lang's goldberg variations



## Open Lane

does anyone here have opinions on these recordings? I only own Goulds versions and love them. Thoughts, on the Lang Lang ones?


----------



## Bulldog

I have only heard the opening aria which was fine except for irritating ornamentation in the repeats.


----------



## wkasimer

Bulldog said:


> I have only heard the opening aria which was fine except for irritating ornamentation in the repeats.


Was it the presence of ornamentation, or specifically LL's choices of ornamentation?


----------



## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

I haven't heard Lang Lang's but why are you focused on Lang Lang's specifically? There are many other fine performances besides Gould's. I love Perahia's interpretation and it is in excellent sound.


----------



## wkasimer

Open Lane said:


> does anyone here have opinions on these recordings? I only own Goulds versions and love them. Thoughts, on the Lang Lang ones?


Well, I think that you need to supplement Gould's versions with some others, but I wouldn't necessarily pick Lang Lang. There are an almost infinite number of recordings of the Goldbergs. Sticking to piano, I'd opt for Dershavina, but you might also consider a harpsichord version or two.

Lang Lang's is interesting, but it is a very romanticized approach, with odd choices of tempo and strange emphases.


----------



## Allegro Con Brio

Essential Goldbergs IMO include:

Perahia
Kempff
Any Tureck version
Landowska
For recent either Levit or Rana


----------



## wkasimer

Allegro Con Brio said:


> Essential Goldbergs IMO include:
> 
> Perahia
> Kempff
> Any Tureck version
> Landowska
> For recent either Levit or Rana


You and I have very, very different tastes...:lol:


----------



## Open Lane

TwoFlutesOneTrumpet said:


> I haven't heard Lang Lang's but why are you focused on Lang Lang's specifically? There are many other fine performances besides Gould's. I love Perahia's interpretation and it is in excellent sound.


It was released recently and i was curious.


----------



## Allegro Con Brio

wkasimer said:


> You and I have very, very different tastes...:lol:


Yeah, a couple of my favorites are not exactly consensus picks. I'd be curious to hear some of yours.


----------



## Bulldog

wkasimer said:


> Was it the presence of ornamentation, or specifically LL's choices of ornamentation?


His choices - I don't care for trills in Bach repeats which call attention to themselves and sound ever so precious. The worst I've heard in this category is from Feltsman who also adds his own musical lines.


----------



## Bulldog

Allegro Con Brio said:


> Essential Goldbergs IMO include:
> 
> Perahia
> Kempff
> Any Tureck version
> Landowska
> For recent either Levit or Rana


I love the Rana but don't find the Perahia anything special. With Landowska, I just find the harpsichord sound ugly.


----------



## Open Lane

I ordered the Perahia. Still considering the Lang Lang.


----------



## Oldhoosierdude

Open Lane said:


> I ordered the Perahia. Still considering the Lang Lang.


I have heard a few of the Lang Lang variations on YouTube. I don't have a problem with his tempo or ornamentation. A lot of other interpretors do similar things. I'll keep it on my radar as a future purchase if I find a good price. Pay little attention to the Lang Lang bashing, he rubs some people the wrong way.

I have a number of Goldberg's. Perahia, Dinnerstein, Kempf are all good non Gould recordings. Kempf is a free download from Internet Archive if it is still available.

Peter Serkin made several recordings and I have two of them. I enjoy them equally. Friskin's old recording is available in somewhat dated sound but worth listening to.

Schiff 2001 and Tharaud 2015 are both good. And one worth mentioning is Ishizaka's Open Goldberg Variations. Open meaning she released it to public domain and it is free to download. She has a nice style and the sound is superb. I have a few others picked up along the way but that's enough for now.


----------



## Open Lane

I only own one Lang Lang disc, which is "Liszt: My piano hero." Some moments are better than other but his performance of La Campanella on that is worth the price alone. Love his technique.


----------



## Judith

Only have Angela Hewitt and love this album


----------



## Animal the Drummer

I couldn't get beyond the first few bars. By contrast with other posters above, I found the opening Aria impossibly precious with its "left hand before right" affectation and for me, after a start as unmusical as that, there was no point in listening further. I wish I had one hundred thousandth of Lang Lang's technique but, if I did, I'd make vastly different use of it. Tureck for me every time.


----------



## wkasimer

Allegro Con Brio said:


> Yeah, a couple of my favorites are not exactly consensus picks. I'd be curious to hear some of yours.


Derzhavina, Schepkin (especially his second recording), Koroliov, Sokolov, Yudina, Tipo, and Giovanni Mazzochin.


----------



## Barbebleu

Animal the Drummer said:


> I couldn't get beyond the first few bars. By contrast with other posters above, I found the opening Aria impossibly precious with its "left hand before right" affectation and for me, after a start as unmusical as that, there was no point in listening further. I wish I had one hundred thousandth of Lang Lang's technique but, if I did, I'd make vastly different use of it. Tureck for me every time.


Have to agree with you here. The opening aria is impossibly slow and over-wrought. The second movement lumpen and leaden. The rest is silence!! One to be avoided I fear. I have neither the time or the inclination to listen to the live set. Life is far too short. Back to Rana for me. I hesitate to say Gould lest the Bach police set about me with leather-bound scores. :lol:


----------



## Simplicissimus

Allegro Con Brio said:


> Essential Goldbergs IMO include:
> 
> Perahia
> Kempff
> Any Tureck version
> Landowska
> For recent either Levit or Rana


Landowska rather than one of the many available brilliant and beautiful harpsichord performances? Wow. But I know you don't like the harpsichord anyway, so why not make it sound as bad as possible. (This is as grumpy as I get.)


----------



## Allegro Con Brio

wkasimer said:


> Derzhavina, Schepkin (especially his second recording), Koroliov, Sokolov, Yudina, Tipo, and Giovanni Mazzochin.


I have heard exactly none of those, so thanks for the tip-off!

I'm surprised to hear that people dislike the sound of Landowska's harpsichord. I always though the rich, guitar-like tone was so much more palatable than the jangly sound of period instruments. But hey, variety is what makes the world go round!


----------



## Oldhoosierdude

As it turns out I have listened to all I can find of Lang Lang's Goldberg Variations. And listened through much of what I already have. While I don't object to Lang at all, I am not sure he distinguishes himself from what I already own. 

Tharaud played much of the Variations at a slower pace and adds ornamentation. Dinnerstein is a bit slower with less ornamentation. 

If I find Lang Lang at a super bargain price I may go for it. Otherwise a pass. Not saying I don't like this new release our that I have a gag reaction to the Lang Lang dude as some are apt to do. Or that this is a bad version. Not not for me at this time.


----------



## wkasimer

Simplicissimus said:


> Landowska rather than one of the many available brilliant and beautiful harpsichord performances? Wow. But I know you don't like the harpsichord anyway, so why not make it sound as bad as possible. (This is as grumpy as I get.)


I'm with you here. I find the sheer sound of Landowska's instrument unbearable.


----------



## DarkAngel

Lang Lang not for me after quick listen on TIDAL, slow movements unbearably slow almost frozen rythmically and the fast movements blasted through like a cannon volley....no feel for subtle nuances of Bach's art IMO

For a piano Goldie he should go back and listen/learn from Dershavina.......


----------



## Open Lane

I got then Perahia today. LOVE it. His sense and control of dynamics is highly on point. I wouldn't say it's better or worse than Gould's. Just different.


----------



## Open Lane

Lol i just got Lang Lang's "liszt now" dvd. I now understand why some people hate him. The smoke machines are weird and the irrelevant imagry of city scenes as he goes through the music of liszt is even stranger.


----------



## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

Yesterday, I was listening to my local classical music radio station and the Aria was playing. It was agonizingly slow to the point where the melody simply did not flow. I thought this was the most pretentious playing of the Aria I've ever heard; I could not listen to it, it was hurting my brain. But I was curious who was butchering this beautiful piece so badly so I stayed on to hear the announcer. And you have probably already guessed - Lang Lang.


----------



## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

Open Lane said:


> I got then Perahia today. LOVE it. His sense and control of dynamics is highly on point. I wouldn't say it's better or worse than Gould's. Just different.


I have both and I can't live without either.


----------



## Open Lane

I also ordered the Rana. Being imported from the UK
Mail has been terrible lately. Hope it gets here (soon).


----------



## Judith

Open Lane said:


> Lol i just got Lang Lang's "liszt now" dvd. I now understand why some people hate him. The smoke machines are weird and the irrelevant imagry of city scenes as he goes through the music of liszt is even stranger.


Watch the extra on the DVD also. That was when I went right off him. It portrayed him as a spoilt child


----------



## DavidA

Judith said:


> Watch the extra on the DVD also. That was when I went right off him. It portrayed him as a spoilt child


No one thing he isn't is a spoilt child. He was made to work very hard by an oppressive and ambitious father which probably damaged him. He had to be the best.


----------



## Open Lane

Judith said:


> Watch the extra on the DVD also. That was when I went right off him. It portrayed him as a spoilt child


I started to watch it on friday. I turned it off because the first few minutes were chinese. Is the entire thing chinese?


----------



## jegreenwood

The Times review of the recording (negative) had a headline on the home page.


----------



## Lordgeous

I'm afraid I just don't "get" Lang Lang. A sort of classical Liberace? I remember part of a documentary featuring his music school in China... Pictures of him on every wall, busts, scuptures (if I remember right).... Oh, and then there's the playing.... No, not for me. Give me Miss Wang anytime!


----------



## Oldhoosierdude

after listening to more of this, I most likely will pass.

This release is now available on Amazon prime. With both the studio and live versions. The one on youtube must be the live. The studio is much preferable and easier to take as you aren't drawn to the distracting spectacle of watching him. Still, not much here that I don't prefer in my other recordings. If I ever find it for a few bucks I might go for it.


----------



## Skakner

I wrote some words in another thread. Please allow me to repeat myself here.



Skakner said:


> I've listened to Lang Lang's performance on YouTube, just out of curiosity. I'm not a fan, although I recognize his excellent technique, but given that Goldberg Variations is one of my favorites, I'd like to share some thoughts from my (probably objective) perspective.
> 
> Some variations (a few) are good, some not so much, some are really bad. The slower his tempo, for the sake of expressiveness (even when it's not necessary), the more possible is to lapse into mannerism. At some points there is too much romantic approach (wide dynamic range, rubato), that reminds me, dare to say, Chopin! I don't like this playing on Bach, at all.
> The ornaments are sometimes (based on what we've heard so far) unusual, something not necessarily bad, but in my opinion they don't serve the music so well. It seems that they 've been thrown, here and there, randomly.
> The last but major downside, is that his playing doesn't present Bach's polyphony to the listener's ears, at least to a certain degree. Some counterpoint lines are too exposed while others are buried. By the way, I think that this is exactly the area every pianist have to compete really hard with Glenn Gould.
> 
> To sum up, if someone wants to start with Goldberg Variations, he definitely should pass.
> There are many good recordings out there...
> *Gould '55*, *Gould '81*, *Perahia*, *Schiff* (Decca), just some of them.


----------



## Captainnumber36

wkasimer said:


> Well, I think that you need to supplement Gould's versions with some others, but I wouldn't necessarily pick Lang Lang. There are an almost infinite number of recordings of the Goldbergs. Sticking to piano, I'd opt for Dershavina, but you might also consider a harpsichord version or two.
> 
> Lang Lang's is interesting, but it is a very romanticized approach, with odd choices of tempo and strange emphases.


I think that's why I enjoy Lang Lang's version so much.


----------



## jegreenwood

Captainnumber36 said:


> I think that's why I enjoy Lang Lang's version so much.


The romanticized version I love is by Samuel Feinberg.

Oops - I was referring to the WTC. Still very much worth checking out.


----------



## SanAntone

Judging from what I've seen of Lang Lang's performances on video he is not someone I would trust with the Goldberg Variations. And since I already have probably a dozen or more recordings of the work which I consider extremely fine, I have little incentive to try his.


----------



## Captainnumber36

jegreenwood said:


> The romanticized version I love is by Samuel Feinberg.
> 
> Oops - I was referring to the WTC. Still very much worth checking out.


Do you enjoy Kempff's Goldbergs?


----------



## JB Henson

TalkClassical and bashing Lang Lang. NAMID.


----------



## OCEANE

SanAntone said:


> Judging from what I've seen of Lang Lang's performances on video he is not someone I would trust with the Goldberg Variations. And since I already have probably a dozen or more recordings of the work which I consider extremely fine, I have little incentive to try his.


Thanks for sharing the views.
I would like to echo you that IMHO Lang Lang as well as some musicians are just too commercial and show-off and they are not those I would "trust" with in the interpretation. For interpretation and conducting of big works, I consider the sincerity, honesty and devotion to music come first than hardcore technique and framed popularity.


----------

