Album: Lang Lang, The Very Best of Lang Lang (Deutsche Grammophon)

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Andy Gill

Andy Gill is The Independent's Music Critic.

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Saturday 30 June 2012

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Lang Lang's Diamond Jubilee Concert performance confirmed him as the new Liberace of classical piano, unafraid of the grand gestures to match his striking outfits.

But there are many moments here when his natural gifts overcome his showmanship: the delicacy with which he teases out the reluctant delights of Chopin's Etude in E major, the combination of ebullience and grace with which he tackles Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 1, and the limpid charm of his reading of Satie's Gnossienne No 1. Also included is Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No 2, which first drew the infant Lang to the piano via the Tom & Jerry cartoon "The Cat Concerto". Despite its associations, he keeps it stately and mannered here. 

Download: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2; Etude in E Major; Gnossienne No. 1

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