Lang Lang - Piano Recital at Carnegie Hall

Throughout its long and rich history New York’s Carnegie Hall and great pianism have been synonymous. One looks back, for instance, on Arthur Rubinstein’s 1961 ten-recital marathon, Rudolf Serkin’s televised 75th birthday recital or Vladimir Horowitz’s historic comeback in 1965 after more than twelve years of absence from the concert hall. Lang Lang’s Carnegie Hall debut on 7 November 2003 seems to be an event of similar importance.

Although Lang Lang had barely celebrated his 21st birthday at the time of this concert, his portfolio already boasts an impressive array of high-profile, international appearances. Given Lang Lang’s swift and steady ascent, one can easily imagine the inevitable pressure on this young artist to deliver the goods in the face of increased scrutiny from colleagues and critics. As it happens, he handles the limelight with confidence and consummate grace.

Lang Lang’s choice of music and mode of presentation both asserted his own 21st-century sensibility and paid homage to his pianistic precedents and mentors. It was certainly no coincidence that he played Schubert’s WANDERER FANTASY, the first work that his teacher at the Curtis Institute, Gary Graffman, had recorded and finished the concert by Liszt’s RÉMINISCENCES DU DON JUAN DE MOZART which is associated with the greatest virtuosos of the piano.

The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote on November 10, 2003: “Friday night’s Carnegie Hall solo recital debut by Lang Lang is best referred to as a triumph. Standing ovations. Five encores. Couples exclaiming to each other that they’d never heard anything like this."