Lang Lang

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2010

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Kirsty Young's castaway is the Chinese pianist Lang Lang.

He was five years old when he gave his first public recital in front of an audience of 800 people. It was a pivotal moment and from that point on it was clear where his future lay. His parents were both musical too but, during the cultural revolution, had not been able to pursue their own ambitions. Lang Lang was born under the one-child rule and so he was, he says, their only chance. Their aim was that he should become the No.1 pianist in China and in the years that followed, family life was sacrificed to that end.

Still only 28 years old, he is a phenomenon in the classical music world - he played to a global audience of four and a half billion people for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics and, when he returns to China, he says he is mobbed in the streets.

Producer: Leanne Buckle

Record: The Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 played by Vladimir Horowitz Book: The Analects of Confucius. Luxury: Two feathered pillows.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, I'm Kirstie Young. Thank you for downloading this podcast of Desert Island Disks from BBC Radio 4.
0:06.0	For rights reasons, the music choices are shorter than in the radio broadcast.
0:10.0	For more information about the program, please visit BBC.co.uk.
0:17.0	Radio 4. My castaway this week is the pianist Lang Lang, a child prodigy and classical music phenomenon.
0:40.0	His talent and showmanship have earned him worldwide renown, playing for presidents, royalty,
0:46.2	and the global audience of four and a half billion at the opening of the Beijing Olympics.
0:52.1	The drama he brings to the concert stage is matched by the story of his early life in China.
0:58.0	Amid the grim stinking slums of the country's capital,
1:01.0	his father demanded a punishing degree of
1:03.8	dedication from his only child, determined he would be the number one pianist in
1:08.8	China. Lang Lang says I was bold. Even at the age of five, the determination to win was in my blood.
1:17.0	It shaped my dreams at night and drove my discipline during the day.
1:22.0	You've now Lang
1:22.5	Lang reached the grand old age of 28. How is your competitive spirit these days?
1:28.2	I think my competitor is actually world number one in piano playing but then I realize that's a
1:49.4	fairy tale I see can you give me a snapshot of typically how many performances you would give in a year?
1:57.0	Yeah, I actually gave 125 concerts plus 15 charity concerts a year. So overall I'm playing around 140.
2:09.0	How much time do you spend in airports?
2:11.0	Every second day I would say.
2:15.0	Yeah, for me airport is like a bus station, you know, I mean people take a bus to work and I take a plane to work.
2:22.0	It's the same thing. And I'm used to this kind of life, so for me it's all right.
2:27.2	Or talking to my mom, she's actually traveling with me.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -5264 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.