Pianist Lang Lang Thinks Michael Jackson Was As Much Of A Genius As Mozart

 

 Five Minutes With: Lang Lang

與郎朗五分鐘的談話
 

文字：Miranda Yuen

世界級華裔鋼級演奏家郎朗在2011年接受英國廣播公司訪問，在這個五分鐘的訪問他說到他敬仰的音樂家，如李斯特Franz Liszt ，巴克Bach。他又很謙虛地說如彈鋼琴是個表演娛樂他人的節目，他也是”藝人” showman，他又列出如在表演需要注意的地方，熱誠，熱愛，演出時不理何人是聽眾，只付出所有。在最後的一分鐘，主持人問他現今的音樂家(composer作曲家)他推舉何人可以與前人相比，他列出Michael地位等同莫扎特Mozart。

這種新聞沒有人報導，又不震撼，又不賣錢，傳媒沒有興趣。 “世界上最偉大的鋼琴演奏家之一郎朗，認為莫扎特和米高積遜是地位相當的天才 “ - 聽到嗎？因此，讓我們自己傳開去！

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If you have not seen this footage of pianist Lang Lang doing a "Five Minutes With" interview at the BBC in 2011, you won't want to miss his equating MJ and Mozart toward the end. Strange how little media prominence comments like these are given, no? No breathless news segments or gossip hounds gasping, "One of world's greatest concert pianists says Mozart and Michael Jackson were equivalent talents--listen to this?!" So let's spread the word ourselves!

Award Winning Pianist Lang Lang Thinks Michael Jackson Was As Much Of A Genius As Mozart (Video)

Five Minutes: Lang Lang Source: BBC News

In this 150th edition of Five Minutes With, Matthew Stadlen talks to the award-winning concert pianist Lang Lang – once named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Lang Lang discusses his favourite composer, being a showman, life as a child prodigy – and whether Michael Jackson is as much of a genius as Mozart.

 

Lang Lang loves MJ as much as Chopin Tue, Oct 05, 2010 my paper     By Jill Alphonso CHINESE concert pianist Lang Lang, who plays a sold-out show at the Esplanade Concert Hall tonight, has been called many things. He's touted as the rock star-like guy who's bringing classical music back to the masses. He's hailed as one of People's sexiest men alive last year ("I don't know what happened, I was eating a lot that year," he says jokingly to my paper), and as being among Time magazine's 100 most influential people. On the phone, the 28-year-old - who graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and who inked a US$3 million (S$3.9 million) deal with Sony Music earlier this year - tells my paper he's just a guy who works hard. my paper gets into his head to find out more about the pianist, who was born in Shenyang in China, and whose parents - a strict folk-musician father and a mother who played classical music to her son while he was still in her womb - bought a piano for their child when he was just two years old.    You've played so many sold-out shows - Carnegie Hall, for example - and worked with many greats. Did you ever expect this level of success? I always had high expectations of myself, but this is beyond my dreams. I'm very fortunate.       Let's talk about your history - why did you choose to specialise in classical music? As a kid, I didn't consciously play only classical music. I grew up with Chinese folk, so I played loads of Chinese songs, as well as songs from movies. But I also played cartoon theme songs, like variations on the Transformers and Monkey King theme songs, even while I learnt Chopin, Bach, Clementi. I came to realise that I felt a lot for classical music, it's close to my heart. My focus shifted there. Surely, you're not just a classical music guy. I'm open to new projects, too. Two months ago, I worked with Paul Mc- Cartney. He wrote some classical- style piano solos, and I'm working with those. He's a talented classical composer. I met him three years ago at the Brit Awards, and he told me he was a "classical rocker", which was cute. Howard Shaw (who wrote the scores for The Lord Of The Rings film trilogy, for which he won three Academy Awards) is also composing a piano concerto for me to premiere next week in Beijing. In the next year or two, I might be working with Clive Davis (who has won Grammys for producing albums for Santana and Kelly Clarkson). I want to create new music - maybe work with pop or hip-hop music.   Why pop and hip-hop? If you play 200-year-old work, that's pure classical music and that's perfect. But I feel strongly about today's music, too, and I'm interested in making new records, newly composed music.   What do you listen to? I like artists like Beyonce and Kanye West. At the same time, I listen to opera like Pavarotti and Domingo (who I recorded with last year). I listen to symphonies, Mahler, and overtures from Wagner's operas. Those are amazing works. I love music in general, and I don't think Beethoven is better than Michael Jackson, or that Michael Jackson is better than Chopin. I think they're equally important.   Much has been written about your parents and how they encouraged you - sometimes to a fault - to follow your dream of being a pianist. Is that unusual? Not really - those from the mainland during the Cultural Revolution (as my parents were) had it tough. We also have a one-child policy. So the theory is, you'd better do good, whatever you do!     Your mother follows you on tour. What're the best and worst things about that? She's 57 years old, and she's amazing. Mother-and-son talk helps because, on the road, you can get lost along the way. You can feel like you're not a person anymore. You can become quite weird. My mum keeps me grounded. When I was in my early 20s, though, she used to keep tabs on what time I'd go to bed, but not anymore.      You were named as being among Time magazine's influential people. Do you feel you're contributing to society? Obviously, I'm flattered, though it's too early to tell. I have my foundation (the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, which supports philanthropy programmes for kids). The Time accolade is great encouragement and I hope to achieve something great.