Here’s the Thing with Lang Lang

as you can see our stage is a little crowded today because we because we had the but a piano up to here with you which is great because we have a one of my favorite people in the world of classical music I've been on the board of the Philharmonic for a few years and I've been announcing for the Philharmonic on wqx R and and in that time of becoming more and more familiar with not just the repertoire and the ensembles and the conductors and so forth but the soloists as well and getting to meet some of them meet all of them there was no one who I found more charismatic and more fascinating to me and his life is fascinating then our guest today and I don't want to waste a lot of time with our introduction would you please join me in welcoming the incomparable long-long [Applause] [Music] good afternoon thank God now the thing that you know you have your book that we read and you know much of the notes we have are based on that and which you described are really really interesting and at times you know difficult time as a child growing up in China and your dad's influence on your life and what I wanted to do was actually go in the opposite direction which is to start now and go backwards what is your relationship like with your dad now that you are this huge international superstar in this in this world what's your relation with him like now we're very close I really much better than when I was at night you're much better if he's not in the same level yeah we're really and it's getting closer somehow because we're not living together so in a way you know why you have a distance this makes you to beauty right so so that's that's how he's actually have it but when you were young it was a minute what you're saying I completely understand because obviously in his mind he must have a kind of a mixed feeling the euphoria of you having made it to the degree you've made it and at the same time he's not around you I know that if I was your dad I'm obsessed with my kids and if I was like your dad and I was instrumental and influential and helping you become what you became then all of a sudden you were like okay dad I got this and you're gonna move out on your own I'd be like wait no you know if you were my son I want to live with you forever I mean what does he do with himself now that you're not living together he's actually he's helping me a lot in China back home and then he's also teaching a lot he'd like to helping the next generation of musicians and and he himself as a musician yeah he played that are who the Chinese Valene so that was his he uses some weird little bands like circus bands than the air force band and you would say in the air force band but even people yet before I was in a circus man yeah yeah but the instrument itself is very beautiful it's like one of the most kind of a charming and principal instrument from Asia and it's very tasteful it has a really beautiful taste and and it's also an instrument always make you cry somehow yes yeah so uh so sometimes I mean my father made me cry with different reason crying cause he broke out thee what is it called again are who are who ya are ya I'll get my Chinese pronunciation or eventually David by the time we're done but but but then you you keep moving in what I've learned from the research that my producers Emily Bettina and Adam ty Schultz did for this show that your country your native country is very driven by competitions and international competitions they put a tremendous emphasis on that correct absolutely especially doing my childhood seems like one of the best way to make career were meaning the commutations and which is the truth there especially during that time because otherwise nobody will discover you you know you know way so we may have to go out for international competitions and to win prizes of course would be nice to win first prize but so being number one's kind of became a moto in my early career and then of course after I landed here I had this teacher great pianist Gary graffman who was also quite different compared to the other academic professors because he's so into you know a real career rather than a short-term being you know Prize winner so he discouraged me to do competitions and I was like wow did he say why he said then you're too crazy about being number one and but you're not you're not really focused on what you should be you know learning the repertoire and - he said do you want to become a great musician or you want to just win the prize and I said oh I said is that not the same I said what was a different I said if I don't win a prize how I'm gonna become a great musician he said oh okay that's the the wrong understanding you have and especially his wife you know Naomi every time I go to library you know in Curtis and then I started you know looking over the competition forms like um Van Cliburn Japan Tchaikovsky and I take it out and then I'm thinking to to fill the form right and I saw Niomi next to me hey what are you doing bad boy food in you just working on your Brahms Second Piano Concerto rather than you know few in the form trying to be a crazy number one somehow it was like okay let me go back to practice when you're when you win when you're young you won your first competition when you were five correct yeah I mean that's what I was kind of like shinyang yeah I was like kind of a professional competition person you know I'm very competitive if I said you let's I spoke combination now and you I see you yeah let's do it I'm not gonna bother you with our combo you're the winner I'll just skip to that but but but what fascinates me is the emotion and the feeling behind that kind of work when you're five years old if you can recall are you sitting at a piano and it's pressure and it's tense and it's like you have to pass a test because it's a competition and you're and there's a there's a kind of a tight feeling you have what you want or are you enjoying yourself when you're five years old one thing are good about commutation is that if it's kind of pushes you to play better than you're normally does because you you try to play without wrong notes you try to be 100% concentrate on what you do but also in the same time if you are too serious about come you know commutation which you lose your soul in a way that you are afraid to do something wrong and as you know in art sometimes when you really do something unique you're actually not really on the page you are actually doing something but that that is a really great moment so so in a way it's hard to say you know it's hard to say but I I kind of enjoyed it because sometimes I lose sometimes that wind is encouraging me to do better and actually I learn more than than just playing because I see others the other kids playing and I'm like wow they're good I need to catch up you know so so this is a good good Bible it's funny to see you of all people and you watch another five year old kid play and you're like damn he's good I couldn't do that when I was let's have a competition you would be right now you're challenging everyone to a duel piano but by my other thought is and this is a very obvious question for people who have all these child prodigies when you look back now what was missing in your childhood what did you wish you had more of a video games more more sports more free three times free time yeah yeah but now I mean you know 36 I can have more free time see I want so it's in the end it's kind of okay postponed yeah yeah yeah yeah postpone it yeah but but in a way that I wish that I may have a little bit more more fun time you know to maybe less pressure I would say yeah yeah your father when you became a grown man did he offer you any perspective about that did he sit there and say I'm sorry that it was so tough and I'm so no paid well yet he never apologized action he was like oh yeah let yourself handle your stuff and I'm not gonna handle it anymore I think that's that's the the way that he passed the management onto you and it's because of he doesn't like to see it on our playing all the time because it makes him a little bit dizzy that's all so of the problems that he gave up and also he said you know your mom drew working to hotter so let her do it so that's right the mom who I met right and now he's chilling us off my mom is at home you know the important cause of you are going I know you and then you have a nice photo he likes to have a some nice photos so now your mother's doing a lot of traveling with you yes what's your mother's answer with all the trouble just one martini is what her program is she does come in handy for some people I mean if she has this natural some kind of a you know she's just never get tired she's incredible I think I got some off my energy from her she's like always her eyes are always like this yeah but before she started travel with me she always sleep really early like already 10 you know I'm very healthy right but then she now means travel with me for for few years already and now she's like never sleep before 3 3 or 2 at least but she looks better than before so I think the music therapy you know I think it's a you know she's just everywhere like every time I play something yeah you've been a corrupting influence on your own mother [Laughter] the the I was at the Philharmonic a while back during this season this current season and we went to dinner afterward with a Jaap fun Satan and his wife and with Deborah board and with Yefim Bronfman great and I asked him yeah I asked him something I'll ask you as well I said to him you know is there a piece you play that is exceptionally challenging to you was there one that even you who you guys were at the Mount Olympus of pianists here and you sit down at the piano and you go to play a patient you like oh man I hope I have it today this is one that was particularly tough fetal doorknob Rothman's answer to that was I thought a fascinating he said when I don't think I actually play very many easy pieces to be honest with you that was imagine he said I don't think I play for him it easily he said all of them are difficult in their own way are there any they were exceptionally provoke you he's so right because every time you play a new piece where there is a technically easy or or and you know or difficult which is always a new story to tell and somehow it's not all about you know play the note anymore you know I said growing up pianist so more about how to bring those music to life again and into you know a different interpretation so therefore every pieces you have to focus and in a very different style of course yeah but I wouldn't say this piece I just you know kind of fun I don't need to care much and they will come out in a great way no way you have to really focus and to concentrate so that's why I like in this new album the piano book it's the same thing there are many pieces consider be pretty simple but once you start to read look into those pieces and you're like wow those are master pieces it's not simple maybe technically simple but if you want to make a real you know music out of it you have to be focused and to play everything in your mind to you know to make it work well there of course is my first slip up here which isn't that you brought up your book before I did I'm sorry which is no no which is a bad hosting on my part I I should have mentioned that you have your new book out the piano book and the CD which I have and now one thing I do which is a silly preoccupation as I go to an iTunes or any kind of a download service right and I look and see the length so how plays the Mahler ninth Fourth Movement the longest in the slowest the most tortured fourth movement of the mouse and you along with his name I'm going to get in a moment you do Claire de Lune you squeeze the hell out of that you really play the very long yes luxuriate clair de lune wise I intend to play slow peace slower that's kind of a and I think you know after getting later older I think it's gonna be even longer don't worry I mean that the other day the one critic said you know from the the card Dylan's the way I played I think long on plays Goldberg with two hour and thirty minutes and I think it's kind of a right thing to say I'm now trying to figure out how I'm gonna play that piece but I you know I just want to enjoy the moment and I I wanted to make sure that I heard everything from that piece I mean it took to me that was a huge part of my education when I started to really immerse myself more in the repertoire and and and the difference between this ensemble and the battery between Zell and the Cleveland and Schulte in the Chicago and muti with though in Milan and so forth and and on and on and on dear Dutoit with the montreal and you know people who recorded a lot and I would see the gaps in the time I mean hi tink does a piece and at this pace and Mozelle does a piece and he adds a whole minute mm-hmm and Gergiev adds almost three minutes you mean they all have their own tempo in their own pace it's just incredible now before we segue because I want to get this right - you may be playing something we have a piano here - which is just a suggestion only don't feel any pressure right it's there in case you feel inclined to you know I like this way of you know you're biting someone to play there there's one friend of my was this really funny so it was somewhere in the world and it was the you know the birthday of my and so he invited me to his house and he said you know I know today's your birthday probably you will not play today but I just want you to know it's also my mother's birthday no pressure so I played burst happy birthday for her yeah my mom is in the audience it's her birthday today yeah and I know pressure yeah I like also I heard whiskas house Pablo Casals and they there's a like rich lady in London always inviting him for tea but he always has something to do it did not have time and there's a family he came and then the ladies like rehearsed you chill o Kesava you Tina you might my cello today Billy Billy Joe did our show and Billy said that that everywhere he goes you know obviously a considerable number of people have a piano in their home and he said everywhere he goes they're like Billy do you mind just one quick tune and and everywhere he goes it's like what do we play Christmas carols at the do you find the same thing as true are people constantly saying but they do in a different way now if they say what my traveling oh so to need a place to practice [Laughter] anytime 24 hours I don't have a neighbors it's okay it's myself I mean okay I got it I got it three o'clock in the morning I'm downstairs I mean this is really nice open house and you might now before we get to some other subjects of God I've got a lot of questions here would you be gay less a little yes played yeah I will play a one off the peace from regarding I don't know which one but I start wait yeah it'll come to you [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you this is the boss of Emily from the movie Emily yeah it's really nice nice movie yeah the describe for us how did the piano book come about whose idea was this I always wanted to do a home like this because when I was a kid I barely find the professional musician recording pieces like for you these are Cherney etudes or Clementi sonatina or mozart sonatina or some of the piece which you consider be the beginners piece but those are the pieces I love the most when I was a kid and then those those are my best friend I'm sometimes it's not best friend sometimes after lot of practice become my worst friend sometimes sometimes I want to kill them but in the end of the day you know those are the the Brandon Potter made pianists to grow so so therefore I wanted to you know to record something which can be appreciated by every person who loves piano so that's why we called the oven the piano album yeah and this is for Deutsche yeah yeah and then it's already in release because I have it on my phone I do thank you yeah thank you what was worth it Bellino thanks I I hope it's brain some some nice feelings and and don't don't always count the minute please yes I did was i candy the 5-second no now when you with you when you well you're leaving very shortly in the next few days to go on a tour and you're gonna have a you're going to roll really going on to Korea yeah Japan or South Africa so yeah now when you go on these trips the first thing that comes to mind is that you know you grew up in communist China and of course Americans have their own you know unreliable images of China and what what goes on in China I don't think they're quite sure but for me what I'm curious about is how did the Cultural Revolution and China impact your parents well there's an impact on your mom I think the Cultural Revolution of course this is from their their generation I was in there right but it certainly gave them incredible kind of I mean openness to to the next generation they want their kid you know to to be a citizen of the world and they you know in a way that because they kind of missed 10 years of time to not connect it to the world and so so in a way that that's why my generation of Chinese kids not kids anymore we are very you know trying to you know learn piano and to get connected to the world of course being Chinese but also a world citizen so so kind of our generation is kind of like our mission is bridging the culture together when you travel around the world you and you and you perform at your level at this supreme level I talked with you about this backstage which is that you can be honored and you can be welcomed anywhere in the world you could possibly go I mean there's just nothing in my mind I've seen the the treatment and the and the worship the idolatry of the biggest figures in the classical riveter were the d conductors or soloists and so forth and a principal chair and some instruments and so therefore you could live in Tokyo or Berlin or Sydney or Rome Paris London Moscow anywhere around the world but this is other than your native home of China this is your home now in New York yeah your home moved to New York in 2007 after 10 years in Philadelphia since 97 and Kurtis yeah I was studying there and then I was waiting to earn more money to afford the apartment here so yeah I mean work since 2007 so that's that's why I moved here and when I came to America in 96 I was just just turned not even I mean just turned 14 and and I thought New York is such an incredible cities they it's a city with the whole world behind and so I always wanted to come here to you know to be part of this I mean I cuz the cultural scene here is obviously very real New York as a cultural capital and other great cities but but maybe not as much as other cities there was no you mean some Europeans it was Paris I mean I I actually do have a new home in Paris so a me it sold a few rare so so we like Beijing New York and Paris like my in theory yeah but not a perfect triangle New York so when you when you travel the world are there halls that you play in or there but people that you play on Sambas that you play with that you really get excited about like what are among your favorite spaces to perform it I knew that the acoustics are very much of an issue because being on the board of the Philharmonic and they're gonna be dynamiting to the David Geffen Hall very shortly next year or two to redo all of Kelvin what's a space that when you perform you just love the sound of that space I mean there are many beautiful halls in the world and of course you have Carnegie Hall here and Boston Symphony Hall it's really amazing sound and you have the music for a concert house in Vienna and and one of the very beautiful look like this beautiful look is the Royal Albert Hall in London maybe the sound is not great but looks great now I mean sometimes that can't - you know for DVD recording you know live streaming that's a nice so nice place yeah and but it's really interesting because for pianist we normally play on the side right so we never really look into audience somehow I mean if you want you you do like this right somehow I've got yeah you know I've got you yeah that story I told your mother at Benton school of physical you finished an optimized Ok Go and then but in a Royal Albert Hall it's a rung right so every words onehans so so first time I felt really nervous when I start playing Mozart you know so delicate and then I see some wise waving and be like oh this is only downside of playing The Roundhouse yes and I'm thinking about cellist everyday you know wow that's that's tough I'm with you with my hands School of Music I told you about this story I said we're in Central Park and you're playing Rhapsody in Blue right and you're there with the Philharmonic with Alan it's the concert in the park and I wear that's obviously where the reverse you'd be facing the other way and you're playing the piano and you get to this was the most tender and the most beautiful the most gorgeous moment in that soft piano part of Rhapsody in Blue and you get to the end of the keyboard and you took this nanosecond to look at the audience of course I'm projecting here and you get to the end of the piano and you look at the you're like you really love you're really crazy about me when I do this when I do this to this piano you go crazy don't you I know you do here I it's me yeah with you and them and I said their mother goes exactly that's him that's what he does a little shout out to the audience I love that Oh what are other things you know maybe you do you get to the point where I mean this is true with people let's say we were just talking about Barbra Streisand the other day because we did an episode with her how she goes on to directing what are other things creatively that you've thought about doing you mastered obviously the the piano at the highest level other other things you've said you ever want to conduct you ever wanna yeah I mean first of all I mean there are many great things you I can do of course I mean if I if I have a better knowledge and like composing or or conducting but of course for me I think there's a more important thing to do which is to inspire the next generation to take music class talk about your flesh and thank you I really wanted to let everyone to learn an instrument because I still remember my first day in Philadelphia in high school and I went into the class and they say so you introduce yourself and I said yeah I'm my English was really bad at that time so basically you know broken maybe broken that time and I said you know I'm playing piano I come here to study classical music and I know everybody look at me it's like they're seeing an alien you know for a first I see this Chinese and then it's like what you hear you're playing what as I move hard you know Mozart heard about that guy that dude yeah he's dead for many years right all right oh wow I was like wow this is something yeah I've been in a bowl and I'm like you guys have a music class not really why should we learn music I mean I was like wow so you see I mean from that day and then oh by the way I also record I mean I may play a little bit the chapstick do you not be I did not know that peace in China I did not know chopstick I know chopstick you know but I so so things so you know so they I made that joke my career would be over right yeah so so so the only thing is a Monday why you made them to the backstage of a night off our course where there's a piano and the reason because they were in the rehearsal for two minutes and they cannot stand anymore though they they all came out because they just couldn't listen to symphony and ice and they said there's a piano there can you play chapstick I know and I was so so I don't really know and then but they showed me and I started but from that moment on we became really good friends it's also you know this culture clash is kind of you know we went through that at that point and then I realized you know one day I should help those you know my friend and classmate to have a bit of you know music inspirations in the school so therefore 10 years ago we founded the International Music Foundation in New York and now we have almost 60 schools and I also want to thank but also I want to have this opportunity to thank Alec because from the first time when we played the concert Alec was the host already and then every every fundraising time he's always there and he's also you know don't hard to say no to you thank you no I really appreciate your help and so the Foundation's been in existence for how long now 10 years 10 years yeah yeah and 60 schools in the u.s. around the world well us yeah how would you say I mean to the extent that this is possible because I'm always quick to to undervalue or under emphasize the American experience if you will but but to a fault maybe but how much would you say you come here and you are a prodigy obviously there's a very young child as all the greats tend to be you're at the piano and and you know knocking them dead at the piano since you're 5 years old or 3 years old or whatever how much would you say the United States and experience of living United States helped to crystallize some of your towns your ability sure the people I mean in a way that I was very lucky I had this best teacher in the world Gary graffman and also Curtis yeah at Curtis in and he basically became a lifetime teacher a mentor to me and so because this is quite important there are many schools many different teachers you need to find someone who's having a you know great knowledge but also fits your style and you know a Gary is that absolutely the right one because he told me so much about different culture learning piano this is not just playing the note you have to learn the culture and you have to learn the history you need to learn their cultural roots folk music and somehow you're learning the culture of the world and you really need to dig into it and then I think in the u.s. it's a it's a really you have so many different neighborhood you know if you want to find more European neighbor who like Germantown you're under the French Quarter or so you always find people from different culture and they can share you know their their culture with you and and I still remember the first few few years it was very difficult for me to understand the culture a little bit and then Carrie found a wonderful teacher who told me Shakespeare then you know after reading a few of the books then I starting to understand the western classical music you know the relationship between the music to the art theme you know to the novels - you have to have the surroundings and then of course not only us is important you also need to go to Europe because this is some some of very you know their their home of some of the greatest composers like going to Moscow and our San Petersburg going to Vienna going to Berlin Hamburg Paris and so or Madrid you know to get into the European culture now when you're performing now because I find this I had someone very early on explained to me when I was more approximate to the performers in there and the maestro's and so forth of the Philharmonic and I was around them more to have someone explain to me the role of the conductor and in the history of where music was a little less complex in the 18th century or late 17th century and this becomes more and more complex you when getting up into through the realms of Stravinsky and all like that you have to have someone there was going to keep time because it's very very almost borderline chaotic up there what does a conductor have to offer you these days at your level I mean conductors are I would say you know they're ours the they are the the guidance of musicians because when I was a teenager I had a many great live experience with you know conductors like Salah leash Lorin Maazel and they're like my grandfather you know they're like a totally different generation and from a totally different time and so they told me how to understand Beethoven how to understand Brahms how to understand you know in a way that is hard to explain in the schools but this is like face to face they they show you the feeling you know like they they basically even though sometimes they don't sing really well but they can really show what they want and and in a way that those are kind of life experiences and this is something that it's so I'm so treasuring for those experience because now these days some of those masters already passed away and I still have a beautiful memories of my first time meeting some others you know or Moselle and this is just tremendous experience for me I want you to tell them the story of addition Bach yes the remark I met in 1999 and then the first time I saw this guy I thought he was the actor from King and I you know you mean Yul Brynner Yeah right yeah yeah and we'll try to make sure ashan luck isn't here yeah he probably no yeah yeah or from x-men no so yes Patrick Stewart anyway so so he was really encouraging he's like play this as I played he to hide and play play Brahms play Ramayana plays from pants where were you I was in Chicago in Romania this is a wonderful music festival there and so when you replaced someone yeah but that time I did not know I just play audition so he and then suddenly he asked me hey so if I ask you to play tomorrow do you have a repertoire to do I'm like what was that because we know in classical music may book ahead like two years you know we never booked tomorrow you know this is this is not in our style you know and so I'm like okay Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto okay good to remember and then and then I went back to Philadelphia the day after next morning I got a call from management Virginia yeah and the manager the manager you know and my agency so they call me you know you've got to wake up I have a great news for you Andrew was gasps sake I'm like that's not great news I mean I somebody is getting sake yeah but it's good for you I said what what happened yeah you've got to replace him to play Tchaikovsky number one tomorrow night but yeah but rehearsals today you cannot miss it okay yeah yes just go back yeah and my father was like wow this is like you are a bench player and somebody saw a concert at Carnegie Hall he filled in for Walter who was he filled in for was sick yeah Walter and that's when he and there's no Walter yeah yeah and and yeah so we're like wow this happens really incredible and then so I went back and then this is the first time I you know I play with Chicago Symphony you know this sound comes out I was like oh what a brass section you know that shebang yeah and it was yeah and you and the next thing I was I'm assuming you're on the phone you're like listen Andre take your time you know you want to really rest and fully recover you don't want to push things I'm here you know it's all good yeah and then maybe did you have a few more concerts where are you supposed to be on Thursday all right Oh let's go Boston yeah 10 oh yeah yeah James Levine but but but there is a bit of that history is made by someone has to yes fall down in the race for you to win there another you win the race because of Andre Watts had a great career but but but named this is always difficult because I don't want to leave anybody out but name because I will tell you people who I am so from the audience perspective and and you can talk about the difference they have another question for you that of course oh no no it's a suggestion only you don't know no pressure go for you are guess you're our guest we would never push you to it okay however Dion I see that sign yeah yeah however the doctor sees right and pump pump pump but but but but but there's there's people that I've seen on the podium but I'm just so captivated by their style yay I'm so captivated they were there or some who are very histrionic and very very powerful and they're and they're they're very muscular wrong yes everyone has a various varies and then there don't barely move right I bet right before missourah died in court moves were performed at the Philharmonic and you could barely he could be barely moved as and he doesn't move his hand very modestly hi tink as much older of course I thought Dutoit was so elegant I fell madly in love with two guns so Kiev I watched him conduct the Rachmaninoff second oh my I have an app on my phone where I can watch all these Berlin Philharmonic concerts streamed on video right all right and I watch too gonz so Kiev I'm completely in love with him I'm madly in love with him and but very elegant on the podium name if you can a couple of conductors who you really love working yeah absolutely uh Gustavo Dudamel he's my great buddy I love him we just played yes I mean day before yesterday LA and then what you put paid to open number two yeah and also I love the new conductor of Boerne of a harmonic curio approach Inco which is going to be starting with burning field this season and and of course I'd love to be Mehta he showed me all the tricks what Horowitz did with him at the rock minor concerto and also when I play Chopin number one he said this on is not good enough I said I said so so what do you think he said yeah I play this Arthur Rubinstein he did not play like this Oh show me my saw show me and he said I don't know how to do that but he did like this that's amazing so maybe that with that comment about Arthur Rubinstein with with who was it you said the conductor was was a while ago but yeah are you do you continue to learn or you still learn you are yeah and I once upon a time I always like to imitate the compo I mean conductors you know like before conducting there's a connect I don't want to name you always pray to the God first and there oh you know very interesting you you have to know you know there's one conductor who's not a conductor who's a you know string player and I was playing a b24 number one with you I just couldn't find find it you know you know the beat it's like I know like I'm like is that here or is that there are that here he said I don't know who's honest yeah very honest yeah me we couldn't you who said I don't know but but the different ones like Guerra give with that hand of his caregiver was conducting and they get down very low in one piece again here because and I literally remember up in the box years ago with with Zarin Maeda and his wife Carmen yes and we're in the box that when when Zarin was running the Philharmonic and I can't tell you I mean not countless times but a few times I would lean over him and I go what's he doing with his hand what does that mean when he goes with this vibrating with Gergiev is really a very original that way now when you say that you're still learning what makes a great teacher when you you you study with great teachers because I want to get to in a moment I got two more questions for you before we maybe take a little break who you up to you but but what makes a great teacher yeah so here's the thing you know sometimes you when you go to a master class and you learn a lot of things in that class and then afterward it helps you a little bit you know for a few more weeks but if someone's really good real master you will hear a master class and that class will carry at least another ten years and every time you think about you know what he or she told you and that that class is not just about how to make music but it's it's a really the way how are you going to think about music and how you connect with your personality you know to the composers and how do you breathe in your imaginations we wrote into the music world and how are you going to develop your next 10 years so they basically make you think much more than who you are and this is so I always felt their their few musicians can really do that and they really brings you to think much deeper and to think about in a very different concept and I still remember working with maestro Nicholas Haim core Mozart and of course I played many times motor concertos but that lesson I played he showed me something that I never seen motor can be described or interpreted in that way and that changed the whole time you you basically think oh my god what I did was wrong you know and I'm gonna learn everything so you know some musician have that power to really restart you thinking of everything are you gonna tell us what he said about Mozart I love classic or is that a secret that an industry secret nothing I mean I I think I play a little bit of you know would you like to show us what he taught you oh I said that would be the perfect time but it's yeah it's a little bit hard to to describe because it's a quiet you don't need to describe it you can just leave it I play our two variations from the Twinkle Twinkle variation okay [Applause] [Music] [Music] you [Music] you [Music] I only have a couple more just a couple more the was there a moment in your life I mean I know I asked these sappy questions but I was there a moment in your life when you saw it I really am pretty good at this like when did you realize you were becoming the person that you became at what age were you it happened few times yeah because because like you know it happens and then you'll think you're now going off you know it's kind of like that so when I was nine I thought I really don't have Tennant and I thought I'm gonna give up and then somehow why I mean what was going on in your life that happened I had a I had a professor who did not like me and then she fired me and I thought I'm so bad I got fired even you know can you imagine this this really and she told me that you you will never become a pianist so yeah yeah so so now you call her before every concert no III got no I got so scared because every time when I'm making audition in the conservatory she's sitting first row because she's the professor you know so I had so many nightmares because of you know her encouragement anyway so but but then I am and then the first time I thought I'm pretty good it's that I when I won the international competition and age of 12 in Germany and I thought wow I actually can play some good sound yeah and then and then I had a horrible time at school again like I did not do well and I'm like okay I'm not good enough and then when I came to America in the beginning I was so confident the first Mouse I'm like wow I'm pretty good and then you know there are many great student that Kurtis they play so well and I'm like I'm not good enough and then I have no concerts you know for for like three years almost because it just nobody who is you know kind of half the confident to take a fifteen year old boy you know to play Beethoven concerto sore or Tchaikovsky it's kind of like too young you know so I still remember my early days audition you know from Philadelphia taking the the Greyhound bus like $12 something like yeah yeah and then came to him to Times Square and then running into auditions and then afterward conductors like yeah by the way actually I met some of those conductors a folk out already so great you know the better they don't remember so so there was a addition from Milwaukee Symphony there if their basketball team is doing really well you know the box so the symphony it's good good good Orchestra and then the conductor look at me from some European country I forgot which country and you played them really good but how old are you an hour 1500 maybe nice to meet another 10 years well I assume you know those old things and and so 18 us did not go so well in the beginning and so I got a lot of rejections and yeah buts you know the different now I mean and then I thought maybe I'm not good enough you know and then when I did that replacement I thought I'm good again yeah now there's a story that I read about you going to at Lincoln and that's the German one 1912 when I was 12 yeah right yeah and you go to a competition correct first international competition for me yeah all right and when you go there you went to a church yeah and I've read where you pray to Jesus when you were in this church and I'm just wondering and you know I want to phrase this question the right way which is do you have without enumerated them or discussed them if you don't want to specific religious beliefs or like many people that I've met in the classical music itself your religion I think certainly music is our religion but I do believe there's something really some incredible power beyond us that that's for sure because that you were the proof of that actually I mean why play sometimes you know you you're you're getting inspired from somewhere and this is not just about you know our wonderful friendship but there's some someone is helping you that's for sure and also from the different part of my life you know there's a lot of time I thought I'm not gonna make it but somehow I made it a strength yeah so and this must be something beyond our are there other cultural things that you avail yourself of I'll never forget Pacino was somebody I interviewed once and I said what is your relationship to music in terms of it manipulating you for your work and he said to me sometimes there's no music in my life for a long period of time I don't listen to any music and then also that comes into my life again do you listen to any classical music for me I when I'm not performing I like to listen to jazz if you somehow you know the the jazz the jazz musicians are really really incredible they can just you know give anything and they they make it into a beautiful work especially in other people that I admire like Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea you know those my great friend and also learn so much from them and then the other aspect is to listen to new music you know let's just fresh made whether it's on top radio or like EDM you know just hear movies TV yeah I mean movie stuff is also great and and also I think listen to mother symphony or Brahms symphonies are always you know always very inspiring you always find something new and somehow when I was a kid I did not really reflect those things into my life you know you kind of listen to it you know it's beautiful but now somehow what I'm especially you know normally when you play with Orchestra the second half is talk or RA so I always sit in and then when I listen to mother or proms or it somehow is reflecting your life even though you know you may not living in that period of time but somehow there are a lot of point when the music composers are trying to make the statement you know in today the changes of the harmonies somehow it's like it's a so related to us you know this is like you sort of thinking oh this is one point of my you know my career what happened is like you know the turning of the the harmonies and and it's really I think the the more symphonies you know you kind of get more life experience ahead I did a film once I told the story before maybe on this podcast where I did this film once and I said to them they have a concept called protected dates so they'll say to you what are the protected dates you want where you cannot shoot it'll carve you out of the schedule and you are not expected to come to work and I said well I want to be released from work on Monday Tuesday Thursday and Friday of this one week I have to be released from work at five o'clock in the afternoon oh four of those days to leave Brooklyn over shouldn't de come into the city and finally that the time comes and they put that in my contract and the first day comes out of Monday and the producer who was a bit overbearing he says to me he said what is this thing that we're springing you for you have you were leaving today at 5:00 right and we're getting you out of here at 5:00 where is it you're going you're going somewhere at five o'clock today and tomorrow on Thursday of use what is it I said well the stats Capel is coming to do the Mahler cycle at Carnegie Hall with Barenboim and and it was barenboim and Boulez and i said i'm gonna go see the fourth the fifth the sixth and the ninth is if you ever look at him like what else would I be doing anyway and he looked at me like you're kidding me he said we're getting you we're driving ourselves crazy and making this movie schedule so you can go and see this piece and I guess my last question for you is what is it I mean I'm the other day sitting there and they play we do they do the rock - which is you know very romantic very basic very you know everybody knows this piece and we're all sitting there and this the tears start welding in everybody's face I raced to get to Carnegie for the shots compelled Mahler cycle and I get in my seat amino like like Obama was in town and Columbus Circle was closed and I can't get to Carnegie Hall and I finally take my seat like the moment that my son's got walking on state they're gonna start him I sit down bo I was so embarrassed I commit and I sit down and they begin the mana and the tears are just rolling it what is it about this music that it touches people that way - what is your feel right because in classical music especially in the symphonic pieces there's so many different layers different layers and those layers are you know representing our emotion our lifestyle our memories and and our kind of different aspect of culture and people like mother he's the the the reason I think we love his music so much is that because he's he has such a mixed of culture in his and somehow you know every one of us is piece of that and and also you know Claude says what classical music's 40 it has some you know it's a very long pieces very long symphonies and you know it's it's very different money if you see a film at five minutes and finishes if it's a TV sub 20 minutes or it's a it's a movie for two hours it's got you into a different stage of your heart of your mind as well and I think symphonies are like an opera you know they can really get in to very deep layers of your heart and of your senses and another thing is that once you are in the concert hall listening to those incredible work is that everything else get blocked everything else so that's why your emotion becomes so pure so genuine you become who you are and so that's why you know we get tears in our eyes because we're so focused and we just that music takes us to when we start you know our life the first day of your memory and and I think that's I was going to ask this question but I'll just say this now and that is that I was going to say you grew up your whole childhood in China and then you've lived here and abroad for years and I was gonna ask you what do have you learned that the Chinese people and the American people have in common and I was gonna say I guess what I'm realizing is everywhere you go what people have in common is this language of music and absolutely love of music yeah I mean the music is so powerful like for example there are many cultures I think like for example there are a lot of great offers are coming to visit to China and most of those Chinese kid probably never heard of those countries before in their life but when they start playing their music we all feel that we know each other and this is the power this is really the power please join me in thanking our very special guest long thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: The Greene Space at WNYC & WQXR

Views: 10,168

Rating: 4.9043064 out of 5

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Id: 9dhlIXSa2Mw

Length: 63min 3sec (3783 seconds)

Published: Tue May 21 2019