Classical Score: Lang Lang Looks Back

Chinese pianist Lang Lang is only 23 years old, but already he is glancing back at the music of his childhood. His newest release, "Memory" (Deutsche Grammophon), arrives March 14.

"All of the music on this album made very strong impressions on me as a little kid, and have stayed in my memory ever since—well, not that I'm all that old now," Lang Lang says with a laugh. OK, so he may not be, but his presence on the international scene as a musician and as an international goodwill ambassador for UNICEF has given him a sense of scope far beyond his years.

Some of the music on "Memory" is material long familiar to Lang Lang, like Schumann's Kinderszenen ("Scenes From Childhood") and Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 3. "I grew up as a pianist with them," he says, "playing them again and again. I lived with them."

Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 10 in C Major, K. 330 has a particularly poignant resonance for Lang Lang. At age 9, the young musician and his father had already left their hometown of Shenyang so that Lang Lang could study in Beijing; his mother stayed behind.

"It was a very difficult time," he recalls. "I was trying hard, but my lessons were going badly, and just before I was supposed to audition for the top music school in the country, the Central Conservatory, my teacher kicked me out of her studio. She told me that I wasn't meant to be a pianist, and that was devastating. I stopped playing.

"At my school," he continues, "the music teacher asked why I wasn't playing anymore. I started crying and said, 'My teacher told me I had no talent.' The schoolteacher put this Mozart sonata on the piano and said, 'Come on, play the slow movement.' So I did, and as I performed I suddenly realized how much I loved the instrument. Playing the K. 330 brought me hope again."

Other pieces bring a sweeter recollection. "Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2—that was the first piece I ever saw 'performed,' if you can call it that," Lang Lang says. "It was on the cartoon 'Tom and Jerry.'

"Do you remember that episode?" he asks. "Tom plays the Rhapsody on the piano, and the most amazing thing was that the animators adopted Vladimir Horowitz's flat-fingered technique for Tom. Of course, back then I didn't know Horowitz; I didn't know any pianists. But 'Tom and Jerry,' of all things, opened my eyes. I thought, 'I want to be like that cat!' "

MUSICAL ADVENTURES: During last month's Chamber Music America conference, ASCAP presented its annual Adventurous Programming awards. In the category for organizations presenting 10 or more concerts per year, first place went to Music at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and second place to Columbia University's Miller Theatre in New York.

First place winner in the self-presenting chamber ensembles/new music category was Opus 21 (Kalamazoo, Mich.); Clogs (Lyndonville, Vt.) and So Percussion (Brooklyn, N.Y.) tied for second place.

In the group of self-presenting chamber ensembles/mixed repertory, first place went to San Francisco's Del Sol String Quartet, while Los Angeles' Pacific Serenades took second place. ••••