Lang Lang is the closest thing to a new superstar the classical world has seen since the emergence of cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and the 24-year-old pianist’s appeal was abundantly evident Friday evening at the Aspen Music Festival.
The 2,050-seat Benedict Music Tent was packed for his appearance with the Aspen Chamber Symphony, and the adoring audience gave him a standing ovation and repeated choruses of cheers – all well-deserved, it must be said.
When Lang Lang burst onto the scene as a teenager, the Chinese-born pianist wowed the classical world with passion and charisma, not to mention dazzling technique. Since then, he has grown in self-assurance and maturity, and he has added another dimension that takes his playing to an even higher level – intellectual depth.
That depth was richly in evidence during his probing, deeply felt version of the melancholic, sometimes even mournful slow movement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K. 453. During the cadenza, he seemed to draw into himself, taking listeners to some otherworldly realm.
That unforgettable section, along with his deft, buoyant playing in the other, more spirited movements and fine accompaniment by conductor James Conlon and the symphony, added up to a compelling all-around performance.
At the beginning of the program was an ebullient, pleasing take on another Mozart selection – Symphony No. 33 in B flat major, K. 319.
In between the familiar pieces came the jolt of an unknown modern work – the gripping American premiere of Erwin Schulhoff’s ballet, “Ogelala,” which debuted in Europe in 1925.
It is sad that it has taken more than 80 years for this amazing work to finally be heard in the United States but not completely surprising.
Like many other talented composers whose lives were destroyed by the Nazis, Schulhoff died of tuberculosis in a concentration camp in 1942 and was essentially forgotten.
Conlon aptly called this 10-part ballet, which centers on the captivity and eventual beheading of a pre-Columbian Indian chief by his enemies, a slice of “1920s savagery.” Throbbing with much the same visceral power as “The Rite of Spring,” a model for this work, it is variously alluring, manic and raw.
Other orchestras should give “Ogelala” a chance. It’s worth it.
Fine arts critic Kyle MacMillan can be reached at 303-820-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
