Lang Lang's new album on the Sony label is "The Chopin Album." It contains, at its heart, the Opus 25 set of a dozen etudes , studies for piano, that you have been studying since I think you were what? Eight is when you started to play those things?
They turn me over to the Southern Music School in Philadelphia where I start getting into, woo hoo, we started getting into Chopin, a etudes , and Beethoven and, you know, the harder pieces, and then I get exposed to jazz, I ended up meeting Wynton Marsalis when I was about 13. I get enamored with the jazz, ethos, and the lifestyle and the look of it New York and wanted to be there, be a part of it.
had been provided for me in the wonderful school system. And I had lots of etudes to practice. And guitar players are notoriously bad music readers.
Walker. So the blues is a special part. When guys were taking Chopin etudes , I was chopping, picking, and pulling cotton.
putting in some new pieces. I actually thought to do the 24 etudes to complete the cycle. But actually, I thought maybe I should do something, not just technical pieces, but also very artistic pieces
So a few Chopin pieces. I will start with one of the very beautiful nocturnes and then one or two etudes , and then a Chopin waltz. So hopefully, we will get really waked after 20 minutes of performance.
Eight is when you started to play those things? Yeah, I started to play the Chopin Etudes when I was eight. Took them on the road when you were 12 or 13?
Took them on the road when you were 12 or 13? Yeah, I played the complete etudes when I was 13. Right. And it was very tiring to play those pieces.
And when I transferred to Manassas, I didn't choose music. It sounds corny, but it chose me because when people were studying Chopin etudes -- no shame in my game, as BB King talked about. I was chopping and picking and pulling cotton.
I really feel bad about it, you know. Recently, I started practicing at my apartment here and started practicing the Chopin etudes . And then my neighbor knocked at my door.
combined for the Chopin first solo for me to record and also to hear. I was actually watching the video that I did when I was 13, playing the complete etudes . And I find a few wrong notes.
They have really impressive biographies, so forgive me for looking at my paper at the same time. First things first, Claudie Haigneré, a French doctor, politician, and former astronaut with the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales and the European Space Agency. You studied medicine, biology, sports medicine, aviation, and space medicine, rheumatology.
And I find a few wrong notes. I'm like, yeah. But I'm now playing a few of those pieces, like the "Winter Wind" and the "Ocean" etudes . Now it feels slightly easier-- slightly.
So we take the kids over the world. And so the theme song, we actually thought the "Tristesse," which is Opus 10, Number 3, etudes , is such a beautiful melody, which I played second to the last. And so we transcribed that to the theme song, so we got this beautiful voice.