United States Various: Lang Lang (piano). Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center, Cleveland, 12.9.2026. (MSJ)
Mozart – Rondo in D major, K.485
Beethoven – Piano Sonata No.8 in C minor, Op.13, ‘Pathétique’; Piano Sonata No.31 in A-flat major, Op.110
Albéniz – Selections from Suite española No.1, Op.47
Granados – ‘Quejas, o la maja y el ruiseñor’ from Goyescas, Op.11
Liszt – Consolation No.2 in E major; Tarantella from Venezia e Napoli
Encores: Debussy – ‘Clair de lune’; Justin Hurwitz – ‘Mia & Sebastian Theme’ from La La Land
Superstar pianist Lang Lang was in his trademark flamboyant mode for this recital at Cleveland’s Severance Music Center. While the approach worked better for some of the pieces than others, it was used consistently, more as a musical tool than as an affectation. There are those who complain about Lang Lang’s larger-than-life musical personality but, to my mind, it makes about as much sense to complain that the sky is blue. It just is and will continue to be so.
Mozart’s perky Rondo in D opened the program, laying out the pros and cons of the pianist’s style. To be sure, by most standards Lang’s handling of the piece was more romantic than classical, stretching phrase endings, slowing down for transitional moments and making use of the full dynamic range of a modern grand. Despite those anachronisms, Lang’s essential approach to the rondo was sparkling and effervescent. While dynamics were pronounced, there was a logic to it: Lang contrasted dynamic levels in order to sculpt chords in such a way that harmonic leading tones were emphasized, shaping the sense of the music’s chord progressions. Though the pianist’s detractors claim that he is over-the-top, that sense of thoughtfully finding the harmonic shape of pieces strikes me as the work of a serious musician.
Beethoven’s ‘Pathétique’ Sonata was a highlight of the evening, the pianist launching into the dramatic introduction before applause had completely died away from the previous work. Alternating between ferocious fortes and dreamlike pianissimos, Lang embraced the emotionality of the work, while still reserving a songlike calm for the great Adagio cantabile slow movement. It was alive in the moment of performance in a way that made it feel as if it were being conjured on the spot, with absolute technical assurance.
More unusual was Lang’s way with Beethoven’s penultimate sonata, a performance that could only be described as the polar opposite of the one we heard here three years ago from Mitsuko Uchida. As great as Uchida’s nobly reserved performance was, it wouldn’t do to dismiss Lang’s. His approach played extremes of dynamics and tempos – far more so than is usually heard in this work – but it was absolutely consistent with his handling of the earlier sonata. He made it sound very much the music of the same composer, one who retains his explosive fortes while the introspective moments retreat even further than before. The only part of the sonata that didn’t seem to work was the fortunately brief second movement, where Lang’s fortes felt relentless. The remoteness of the third movement, however, found him in visionary territory.
After intermission came some highly colorful works. Lang savored his six selections from the Suite española No.1 by Isaac Albéniz, with alternately elegant and fiery turns of phrase and a notably sizzling blaze through the famous ‘Asturias’. After a break for applause, Lang played the final three pieces on the program without a pause, going from the sumptuous languor of the Granados to the sweet cascades of the first Liszt piece. The Tarantella from Liszt’s Venezia e Napoli supplement to his Italian Années de pèlerinage made for a spectacular close, giving Lang the vehicle for unleashing his formidable technique with daredevil insouciance.
For encores, he delivered a hushed rendition of Debussy’s Clair de lune and followed it with a surging arrangement of music from the film La La Land.
Mark Sebastian Jordan