Keyboard maestro tames Bach

Born in Shenyang, Northeast China's Liaoning province, Lang started to play piano at the age of 3.He was introduced to Bach's music by his first teacher, Chinese pianist Zhu Yafen, and began exploring the Goldberg Variations when still a teenager.

"I didn't quite like Bach's music at first because his pieces were not interesting enough for me. However, as I grew up, I realized that I didn't understand the composer and I was wrong," Lang says.

At 17, Lang played the Goldberg Variations from memory in an empty concert hall for German conductor and pianist Christoph Eschenbach. "He played it by heart," the maestro said. "Lang Lang had studied every last detail and played the work with enormous stylistic awareness. It was quite an experience!"

Lang, though, knew back then that he wasn't ready to record the piece. In his mid-20s, he returned to the work and played it to Austrian conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt on the conductor's harpsichord. After Lang had played part of the work, Harnoncourt said: "You played very well, but the music needs a greater sense of solitude. You need to find more stillness within yourself." Harnoncourt then played a couple of passages for Lang, which "opened my eyes to completely new dimensions and approaches to Bach's music," Lang says, adding that it is "indeed a work that one needs to be able to study in absolute peace".

It was another 10 years before he felt that the time was right to preserve his interpretation for posterity.

Over the past two years, the pianist practiced the pieces of the Goldberg Variations every single day for about 30 minutes. As part of his preparations, he met up with the German harpsichordist and pianist Andreas Staier, who gave Lang his perspective on the work.

They discussed pedal use, ornamentation, dynamics and Baroque performance style. Then, while in Arnstadt, Germany, he had the chance to hear and play the Baroque organ that Bach himself played.

"Hearing the sound of that instrument and understanding the way it was played gave me unbelievable joy-I could feel the rhythm and pulse of the Baroque style," he recalls. "By exploring the wider context of a work, you can narrow down your own interpretation.

"I'm now 38, and while that is not old, I think the time was right for a new stage in my artistic development. I've moved into new terrain with the Goldberg Variations and really immersed myself fully in this project."

The new album is his first release since he married pianist Gina Alice Redlinger last year. He says that his wife, who is German, helped him read and understand some background information about the Goldberg Variations while he recorded the new album. During his recitals in Germany in March, she was also there supporting him.

With onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, Lang was forced to cancel more than 80 concerts, including his collaborations with established symphony orchestras, such as the Philadelphia Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra.

The couple remained in the public eye with appearances on several Chinese reality TV shows in recent months.

As he says, he took those opportunities to relax and introduce classical music to a wider audience.

"It was horrible to have all the concerts canceled, which made me frustrated. Luckily, I had my Goldberg Variations project done before the pandemic," Lang says.

In support of the new album, he plans to give recitals in Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Shaanxi province, and Tianjin later this year.

"My goal as an artist is to keep becoming more self-aware and more knowledgeable, as well as to keep offering inspiration to others. It's an ongoing process, but this project has taken me a little further along the path," he says.