Lang;Lang 2010 Live in Vienna

Video quality is of course fine, but for my taste too many cuts. Another director that got his training at MTV. Each take on average 3 seconds, with shorter takes in the beginning and longer takes towards the end. He learnt a bit or got tired himself. Overhead shots were not good enough but needed to spin, too. Your taste may differ.
I listened to the surround track of the concert (5.1 DTS-HD) and it is not that great, either. Little use of the side channels and the piano sounds not as full as it does on other recordings I have.
Normally, I don't watch the bonus program (here excerpts of the same pieces played in the Berghain club, but recorded in 3-D for a future release, sound is 5.0 DTS-HD), but someone had mentioned the different acoustics, so I checked it out. Low and behold, that sound is much better.
I don't think it's the acoustic of the room, but the microphones and the placement. In the concert, there are 4 microphones, 2 at the narrow end of the piano (which I believe don't do much for the sound) and 2 in front, very close to the piano, about piano high. In the club, there are 3 different microphones in front of the piano, about 3 feet apart from each other and about 15 feet away from the piano. Different audio technicians/directors too.
So this disc turns out to be an example of how different the sound can be based on who does it and how it is done (good or not so good). The Berghain guys did a better job and the bonus material sounds better than the concert.
"Jundi Li in Baden-Baden" sounds in concert just as good as Lang Lang in the club, DTS 5.1
The Verbier Festival Piano Extravaganza is much better recorded as far as surround sound is concerned.
So Lang Lang 5 stars, audio 3 stars

It isnt often that a pianist can play every composer superbly, but thats what we have here.And as for the sound quality, all I have is a $90.00 Sony Stereo system and yet the piano sounds just like its in the living room.This DVD proves that Lang Lang is a superb virtuoso and musician, and also sets several standards for musical excellence that have never been surpassed and rarely equalled.With the two Beethoven Sonatas featured here, it is not just the power of Lang Lang's playing that singles him out, but also the beauty, when he has such subtle control over a formidable wide tonal range. Even at its weightiest, the sound is never clangorous.Particularly in the early Sonata No.3 opus 2, Lang Lang brings out the wit and parody, while in the slow movement regularly draws a sensuously velvety legato.The clarity of Lang Lang's articulation is breathtaking throughout the great "Appasionata" Sonata No. 23 evoking memories of Gilels, Serkin and Brendel both technically and musically, (he includes the repeat in the last movement) with breathtaking virtuosity, vivid imagination, superb feeling and expression,all of which is without sentimentality.(exactly the way Beethoven wanted it) No one has ever played these works better than this.Lang Lang is also highly sensitive to the subtle nuances of Albeniz evocative piano writing, and his gentle sensouos inflexions are consistently seductive from the opening 'Evocacion' of Iberia book 1 onwards.His pianism is captivating in its delicacy of touch and crisp articulation, beguilling charm and character to these rewarding miniature tone-poems and making light of their sometimes fiendish technical difficulties. He penetrates the ethos of these pieces with a natural feeling to their Spanish atmosphere. In the Prokofiev Sonata (which he plays as least as well as Horowitz and Richter) and the Chopin encores,(he plays the famous "Heroic" Polonaise as well as Josef Lhevinne, something nobody has ever been able to do before, not even Horowitz) the evenness and ease of all his runs and arpeggios, the commanding , penetrating power, always expressively graduated and shaded, the positive intensity (so different from pounding) with which significant single tones are struck and made to vibrate through and through the listener, Lang Lang unites all the qualities of a complete pianist, with no weakness or flaws anywhere.To summerize; Lang Lang stands today for all that is exquisite and poetic in the domain of the piano.His touch is original, his manipulation of the instrument unnapproachable, a virtuoso among virtuosi, and the beauty of his tone, its velvety aristocratic quality, so free from any suspicion of harshness or brutality, gives him a unique position in the music loving world.Lang Lang was born for the piano and evokes memories of the 19th century keyboard giants that studied directly under Franz Liszt.

I have been following Lang Lang's career for a while and watching how he has progressed. I finally got to see him live performing Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto. Absolutely blown out of the water. This DVD Blu Ray brings back that live performance that I experienced. The man is impeccable. Would recommend to any piano enthusiast. He plays a beautiful Steinway "D" Concert Grand. I would give this a 10 star if that were available.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 10 reviews  4.5 out of 5 stars