Pianist Lang Lang, Violinist Chen Xi Lead Classical Music
This is the 20th and last in a series of interviews with the next-generation of classical musicians. ― ED.
By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
The 1981 Academy Award-winning film ``From Mao to Mozart'' documented the Western classical music scene in China as it emerged from the Cultural Revolution. The last 15 minutes of the movie showed an earnest 10-year-old playing the cello before Isaac Stern. This was none other than esteemed cellist Jian Wang.
Now a generation later, China is becoming a major market for almost everything, and it seems classical musicians are one of its hottest exports. If Wang represented a changing China, here are the faces of ``new'' China, pianist Lang Lang and violinist Chen Xi.
Lang Lang: Mozart Meets MTV
At 26, Lang Lang already has a ``best of'' album, and recently performed before 5 billion viewers at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.
It was ``unbelievable,'' he said about the opening ceremony in an email interview with The Korea Times. ``My heart is still pumping fast when I think about it. It was a miracle opening night, and representing the new generation of China this way was a really big honor.''
But Lang is more than just a Chinese star pianist. He's been like the big bang of the international classical music scene ― the Mozart of the MTV generation ― with maestros giving him the highest praise, Netizens not getting enough of him on YouTube and Adidas naming a sneaker after him.
``I can't describe him as a pianist, because you will only hear in my sentence the jealousy that I and all his colleagues feel,'' Daniel Barenboim said once. ``I'm sure he didn't show you, but you know, he has 11 fingers. He plays the piano like a cat with 11 fingers.''
Lang said music was the most natural thing for him: ``The piano happened to be the instrument I loved the most from the beginning. I think this is what you call instinct.'' The Shenyang native began playing at age three and moved to Beijing to enter the country's most prestigious conservatory ― bidding farewell to his mother to live in an unheated apartment. He had to hit the piano keys to keep warm and endure his austere father who would tell him to kill himself when he didn't measure up to expectations. This story, of course, is already familiar, and has inspired his two memoirs in English, ``Journey of a Thousand Miles: My Story'' and ``Lang Lang: Playing With Flying Keys.''
He said he wanted to inspire people through his books. ``I think that there are many things in the world you can dream of, but you are always afraid that it's a dream. I try to inspire people that everything is possible, and if you believe, you will eventually get it.''
But the pianist's ultimate method of communication is, naturally, music. ``It's like you are talking to people or to yourself,'' he said. ``The amazing thing is, it is through that conversation between you and the music, between the composers' creation and your recreation, that you learn a new life… All of those things connect to your soul and help you to cross the barriers. Music is a very powerful art.''
He said he wants to paint different ``music colors'' and moods in each piece. ``Sometimes I like to start with lighter colors and go really light or go in the opposite direction,'' he said. He will be showcasing one of his favorites, Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.2, with the La Scala Philharmonic led by maestro Chung Myung-whun in Seoul, Sept. 10.
``This piece is special because it is really a tragic feeling piece. But at the same time it is so beautiful, unbelievably so, and this creates quite a huge emotional explosion when playing it,'' he said. Lang also expressed great joy in collaborating with maestro Chung for the second time. He revealed that he is fond of the conductor's family, who came to his concerts in New York early in his career.
While being a mascot for the future of classical music, the New York-based artist is ahead of his time and seeks to foster young talent. ``I would like to support more young people and I have already started to create a foundation based in New York to raise money for the next generation,'' he said.
In China, he said, there are so many children learning the piano like ``crazy.'' But he pointed out the need to teach European history and culture for students to better understand the music. ``As Asian artists, we sometimes need to work harder than Europeans because we need to learn how to connect to their (European) culture,'' he said. He himself expanded his own horizons by attending the Curtis Institute in the United States.
``But I'm very happy because we have so many young people in the audience in China unlike Europe and U.S., where the audience's age is getting older and older. We need to work very hard there to bring young people in. I admire the music scene in Korea, which is such a musical country, and the education for music in Korea is probably one of the best in the world,'' he said.
But Lang's cultural diplomacy flows both ways, and he is equally devoted to sharing his Chinese culture with the world. Playing Ye Xiaogang's new piano concerto at the Olympics was one instance and the tracks on his latest album ``Best & Rarities'' (Deutsch Grammophon) are another. He said he loves Chinese music first and foremost because he loves music, not necessarily because of his passport. ``I'm thinking whether there will be a way that I can play Chinese music on the piano. I enjoy bringing new repertoire out,'' he said, ``particularly ones you know from your childhood.''
Lang will be releasing his new Chopin album at the end of the year with maestro Zubin Mehta and the Vienna Philharmonic. For inquiries about the upcoming concert at Seoul Arts Center, call (02) 518-7343.
Chen Xi's Ongoing Musical Journey
It came as a small surprise when the soft-spoken, unassuming professor Hyo Kang personally recommended a young man for the ``next generation'' series. But it seemed only natural the artistic director of the Great Mountains Music Festival and School would bring attention to Chen Xi. Kang is teaching the 23-year-old violinist at Yale beginning this fall, but Chen was already introduced in Korea last yedar as a ``genius with gorgeous tones and colors.''
The Korea Times spotted Chen conversing animatedly with Jian Wang and other musicians at the music festival. Chen looks up to Wang and Lang Lang like older brothers, but he is fast building his own reputation as one of the most promising artists of his generation.
At 17, he became the youngest top prizewinner in the history of the International Tchaikovsky Violin Competition, finishing second where no first prize was awarded. This was despite an unfortunate hand injury before the semi-finals. The Moscow event coincided with the 2002 World Cup, and hooligans who weren't happy with the match against Japan attacked Asians including Chen.
He couldn't play for three days. While this handicap would have been enough to devastate anyone, Chen relaxed. ``I was here for the experience,'' he said. He was no stranger to injuries. When he was 10, he hurt his neck from excessive practicing. Fortunately, he was able to recuperate, and has been a firm believer in moderation ever since. It also reaffirmed his passion for music.
It's hard not to draw more similarities between Chen and his ``older brother'' Lang Lang. Like the pianist, the violinist fulfilled the musical ambitions of his father, who had to submit to the Cultural Revolution. ``When I was born, he checked to see I had all 10 fingers. Then he checked my face to see how I looked,'' he said laughing.
Growing up in Shenyang, he was already naming Mozart and Beethoven pieces at age two and was fiddling the violin for fun as a five-year-old with his neighbor, pianist Lang. When he was 12, he became the youngest student at the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Following the advise of Lang, he moved to the United States to study at the Curtis Institute. Chen and Lang would later tour together in Taiwan with the China Youth Symphony Orchestra.
There weren't many quality concerts where he was growing up, he said. He admitted being a rather ``snobby'' soloist who got ``bored'' during rehearsals with orchestras. Moving to the U.S. and meeting passionate musicians changed his life. He discovered his love for chamber and orchestral music.
In Beijing alone, there are some 300,000 violin players and 1 million pianists, including professionals and amateurs, said Chen. Does he have any advice for those who want to follow a similar path? ``It's important to know what you want before studying abroad,'' he said. No matter how far from home, he always remembers what his teacher back in China told him. ``There are three things to keep in mind: history, the composer and nature,'' he said. Man is part of nature and music is a means of expressing human emotions, he explained.
The violinist looked surprisingly young offstage, wearing a T-shirt and boyish grin. But his gaze remained steady and the confidence in his voice was unwavering as he spoke about music. Winning a prize, let alone the top prize, at a tough competition was a big surprise. He had tried his best and was happy, but always keeps looking ahead: ``the competition was not my final goal. It's not my final destination,'' he said. His journey has just begun.