Dragon Songs - Lang Lang plays Melodies from China

Renowned throughout the world for his passionately committed performances of Western classical masterpieces, Lang Lang now returns to his Eastern roots with this ground-breaking album of Chinese music recorded in Beijing Lang Lang performs piano transcriptions of the Chinese songs, joined by traditional instruments including the pipa, the guanzi (double-reed pipe) and the guzheng (zither). “I like using the familiar sound of the piano to introduce these pieces to the world. The sound of Chinese music may be a little hard for some European ears to take in at first, but adding the piano to a pipa or guanzi makes it easier." Lang Lang has brought together master musicians from the Central Conservatory in Beijing, where he studied for five years from the age of nine. “We recorded some of the music in the auditorium. It made me so nervous because that was where I took all my piano exams. Before we started, I said to myself 'No wrong notes!'" Not only are there no wrong notes, Lang Lang has just been appointed professor at his alma mater. While in Beijing, he also became the first solo pianist to perform in the Great Hall of the People - in the Forbidden City - before an audience of 8000.