Piano Recital by Lang Lang
Cultural Centre Concert Hall
One night only
It may be hard to believe that a recital in which the pianist whipped through technically demanding passages with improbable ease was, in fact, dull. But this was exactly how this writer felt at Lang Lang's concert on Tuesday.
It was not that the 23-year-old international star made the passages sound so easy as to quench any excitement. For one, he did a dazzlingly good job making the extremely difficult transcription of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No2 by the great piano virtuoso Vladimir Horowitz shine like technicolour fireworks. The problem is that it was in garish technicolour - while Horowitz could make your hair stand with a transcendental mixture of genuine white-hot bravura and chilling precision.
The rest of the concert sometimes had a flavour of fake sentiment, especially in those moments when Lang affectedly slowed down, perhaps hoping to sound 'emotional'. Mozart's K.330 sonata was played with agility but was lacking the elegance or intimate whispering that the best can create.