Lang Lang and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall Final performance last night A star on the international concert circuit, 21-year-old Chinese pianist Lang Lang appeared at Cultural Centre last night and on Friday night with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, playing Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No3. Lang, something of a popular idol and already the author of a best-selling autobiography, was once voted by Teen People magazine as one of the 'top teens to change the world'. His Hong Kong concerts easily sold out. Since Lang became an overnight sensation at a concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1999, this young talent has been on the fast track to international fame. His supercharged technique and extroverted manner have garnered rapturous applause in many western concert venues. But Lang's account of 'Rach 3' was often as insubstantial as the showman's instant reputation. True, his technique was formidable, but his touch in the fast passages was punchy and coarse while his phrasing in the lyrical sections was unashamedly mannered. When the music came to a grand statement or a beautiful melody, Lang more than once unnaturally slowed down his tempo, which was not merely gilding the lily but suffocating it with cheap paint. The two encore pieces, Schumann's Traumerei and Liszt's Liebestraum No3, were also over-cooked. Lang is a pianist of great potential, but he seems to have become too occupied (or obsessed) with posturing; let's hope he will mature some day. The philharmonic, under conductor Gunther Herbig, provided Lang with delicate accompaniment. In a performance of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No5, Herbig displayed a fine sense of orchestral texture and detail, but an overall projection of tragedy and triumph was missing.