9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Talks/Authors/Brewmasters/Comedians/Green/Health/Innovators/Musicians/Artists/Filmmakers at Google)[br][Applause] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Artists at Google[br]Lang Lang The Chopin Album - Interview moderated by Jeff Spurgeon of WOXR[br]October 15th, 2012 [br][Applause] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Lang Lang] Good morning. Thanks for being here. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm very happy to be here for the second time, but the first time, I wasn't on the stage. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I just - I was just visiting the office - a very cool office, I say. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And yes, I prepared some morning songs for you to wake up. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [laughter] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, a few Chopin pieces. We'll start with one of them, a very beautiful Nocturne 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and then, one or two Etudes, and then a Chopin waltz. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So hopefully, we will get really waked after 20 minutes of performance. Thank you. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Applause] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Chopin: Nocturne in E-flat major, opus 55 #2 (?)] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (6:44) [Etude - which?] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (8:11) [Etude ?] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (13:01) [Chopin: Waltz op 64 #1(?]) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (16:42) [Applause] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Jeff Spurgeon] Hello. I'm Jeff Spurgeon from WOXR, New York's classical station ....... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You may not know, because nobody told you: this is Lang Lang. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He's a classical pianist, reasonably well-known all over the globe (17:12) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and it's quite a wonderful thing to hear you play. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Let me ask you: what was your warm up for this? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Just this morning: did you warm up this morning? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Lang Lang] I - I'm sorry, I didn't warm up: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I woke up around 10:20 [laughter] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I mean I was running like crazy - speed - to get here 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I'm really grateful that I - I mean - you are here today, ...... for me. Thank you very much. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Jeff Spurgeon] It's really wonderful[br][Applause] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Jeff Spurgeon] It's extraordinary to have all that music just in your head, just at your command, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but that's what you do. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Lang Lang] Well, as Rubinstein said, you know, one of the greatest pianists, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and he's had, he has like 60 piano concertos in his head. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And basically doing - in his 70's or 80's he said: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Just call me up, wake me up in the middle of the night, like, say, 4 am - 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I can play whatever piece you want - in concert level" Well, I mean that's - 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Spurgeon] I believe it but so can you - but so can you. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He's had - he had a little more practice than you so far, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but you'll be there. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In China, Lang Lang is credited with influencing some 40 million kids 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to take up classical piano. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now, I know that 40 million is not maybe a huge number at Google, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but still [audience laughs] it's a reasonably large number of people - [Lang Lang laughs] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to persuade to take up - and when you think about all the pianos that have to be made, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and all the music that has to be printed, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and all the lessons that have to be paid for, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I would say that you are, without question, classical music's greatest job creator.[laughter] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I don't think there's anybody who's going to do more than that than you are. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Lang Lang's new album on the Sony label is "The Chopin Album". 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It contains at its heart the Opus 25 set of a dozen études, studies for piano, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that you have been studying since I think you were what? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Eight it was when you started to play those things? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Lang Lang] Yeah, I started to play the Chopin études when I was 8, and - 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Spurgeon] Took them on the road when you were 12 or 13? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Lang Lang] Yeah, I played the complete études when I was 13, right, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and it was very tiring to play those pieces [laughter]. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I mean, it drives me nuts and it drives my neighbors nuts [laughter] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I really feel bad about it, you know. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And, as you know, recently I started practicing in my appartment here, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I started practicing the Chopin études, you know [imitates a few notes] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and then my neighbor knocked at my door: "Can - could you stop?" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Spurgeon] Really? You mean really? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Lang Lang] Yeah. I mean, no no. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I mean there's one neighbor who knows who I am, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so she's always like, "Oh, that's really wonderful!" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But then, there's another neighbor, I think, living downstairs, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because I always like to practice after 11, you know, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to find inspiration [laughter] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And - and this lady, I think she hates me all the time. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So anyway, that's - 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Spurgeon] So you've been playing these since you were 8, playing them in public since you were 13. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Why record them now? Why not a little earlier? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Why not wait a couple more years? Maybe the wine will mellow a little more in the bottle. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Why decide to do these now? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Lang Lang] I mean, since I'm 30, you know, I like to - 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to do some more repertoire, which I played a lot when I was a kid, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and also, you know, putting on new pieces. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I actually thought to do the 24 études, the complete cycle, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but I actually - I thought maybe I should do something, not just technical pieces, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but also very artistic pieces combined for the Chopin first solo for me to record. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And also to hear - I was also actually watching the video that I did when I was 13, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 playing the complete études, and I found (?) a few wrong notes, and I [makes dismayed sound] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but now, playing a few of those pieces like "The Winter Wind", "Ocean" études, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 now I feel slightly easier - slightly. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So that seems like a good sign, you know. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 17 years of practice and my technique is going somewhere [laughter] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And - but more importantly, is the musical sense that - 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 there are so many new things I'm trying to reinterpret in this album, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that I try to find different colors, like you have here, different levels of colors 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the combination of the ...... of Chopin, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you know, the Romantic period of répertoire, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and especially last year, I did Liszt. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So I thought this was a nice moment to do Chopin. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So next year will be very different. So - 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Spuregeon] What's next year? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Lang Lang] Next year, I will do Prokofiev and Bartók. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Spurgeon] Well! OK So it's very very different, totally different, truly... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There's some unusual pieces on this album. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The Andante Spianato (?) in Grande Polonaise, a big favorite of yours, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 done with orchestra sometimes, but there is the solo version. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You've always liked this piece? (22:31)