If you had any doubts about Lang Lang’s classical superstar status, the first of his two London appearances this week would have clarified matters. The cavernous Royal Albert Hall was packed, the merch sold out long before the interval ended and his two encores were filmed by a sea of smartphones. The audience listened politely to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture and Venusberg Music – a deluxe-finish if otherwise functional performance under Mark Wigglesworth – but roared into life when Lang Lang entered. There were numerous leisurely bows before he played a note.
The notes poured out by the fistful in Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No 2, from industrial-scale opening chords to passages where Lang’s fingers skimmed the keys apparently without effort, the melodic tumult glinting like priceless gems. There were a few precious quiet moments with Lang bent double over the piano and a glimpse of humour in his sudden slowing for the second movement’s ungainly oompah romp. Mostly, though, this was a showcase of virtuosic pianism as sonic warfare. Lang launched the finale with such a catastrophic explosion that a child in the hall’s upper reaches burst into tears.
