Lang Lang

THERE is a big divide in the classical world over 23-year-old pianist Lang Lang. Some recoil from his alleged musical liberties and physical eccentricities at the keyboard. Others think he is tonic for an art form often derided as staid and increasingly out of touch with the real world.

Lang Lang's latest CD, one of many releases celebrating the 200th anniversary of Franz Liszt's birth on Oct. 22, 1811, is titled "Liszt, My Piano Hero. " Of course Liszt would be a hero of the flamboyant Lang Lang. Liszt was said to have been the greatest keyboard virtuoso the world had ever known -- and the most showy. An 1842 caricature of the dashing Hungarian at the piano on stage in Berlin shows him as clearly the prototype for the modern rock star. With his left hand on the keys, he is waving to his mostly female audience with his right.

These days, the best way to start a punching match among musical highbrows may be to bring up the young Chinese-born pianist Lang Lang. He's either what full-page ads call "the future of classical music" or, as one critic fears, "the new Liberace." At the tender age of 21, the exuberant Lang, wildly popular with audiences and at the receiving end of an enormous star-making push, is well on his way to becoming classical music's most divisive figure.

The message of "Pianomania" is a simple one: to make the kind of beautiful music the great classical pianists create, you have to be obsessed with the search for the perfect sound. And you need the perfect accomplice as well. Which is where Stefan Knüpfer comes in. Officially known as the chief technician and master tuner for the Austrian branch of the great piano firm Steinway & Sons (already the subject of another fine documentary, "Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037")

Lang Lang's reputation as an exceptional and irrepressible showman has traveled far and wide. At 25, the Chinese pianist is already so popular that his record label, Deutsche Grammophon, markets him as a kind of Pavarotti of the piano. His latest disc, "The Magic of Lang Lang," is a meaningless mishmash of sometimes nauseatingly overplayed excerpts from all over the place and concludes with a collaboration with Andrea Bocelli.

Herbie Hancock checks out the sunset from the balcony of his hotel penthouse overlooking Park Avenue. The jazz legend is waiting for his latest musical partner: Lang Lang, a young classical pianist who was born in China and has become its most famous international musician. Spiky haired and energetic, Lang Lang suddenly sweeps through the door reaching his arms out to Hancock. "Herrrrbbbieee," Lang Lang bellows. Mr. Young Ball of Fire embraces Mr.

Lang Lang isn't really enough Langs for a pianist of so many aspects, for one who gathers extravagant accolades, attracts adoring fans in rock-star quantities and -- when not inspiring downright critical disgust -- generates considerable bewilderment from the keyboard establishment. Tuesday night in a program entitled "Lang Lang and Friends" at the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa as the centerpiece of the Philharmonic Society's ongoing celebration of Chinese culture, Lang was the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful, the poetic, the prosaic, the imaginative, the banal, the tasteful, the tasteless, the exhilarating, the disturbing.

Lang Lang is a pianist from China, 18 years old. He entered the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia three years ago and in no time joined the roster of pianists who could be called upon at the last minute to fill in for famous soloists who cancel. That was then. Now he is getting top bookings for being himself, and he has an exclusive record contract with Telarc (his first CD is due out in April).

Shrinking space and shrinking editorial IQ Three-fourths of Page 1 and a full page inside on someone named Tila Tequila ["Tequila's Sunset," March 14]? It's bad enough the Sunday Times has -- necessitated by a combination of the recession, Sam Zell and the Internet -- shrunk to but a shadow of its former self, but some editorial good sense should still prevail at The Times. To paraphrase Joseph Welch in responding to Joseph McCarthy's slurs against his client: "Have you no sense of decency, sir?

Why does Lang Lang, the 24-year-old Chinese pianist with an echo for a name, still set off such virulent debate within the classical community? Another chance to consider that came Thursday night at Walt Disney Concert Hall -- and once again, one had to conclude that a lot of hot air, pro and con, has been blown at the wrong target. Yes, Lang could turn on the physical shtick in a manner suggesting showman-like artistes from long, long ago: the languid (indeed!

If the significance of the tune that pianist Lang Lang played at last week's state dinner for Chinese President Hu Jintao escaped the White House protocol staff, not so the Chinese. The patriotic ballad "My Motherland" comes from a 1956 movie that was set during the Korean War, depicting brave Chinese soldiers battling brutish Americans. The song is a perennial during televised Chinese galas and a staple in the repertoire of most folk singers here, but its inclusion in the musical program at a banquet celebrating Sino-U.

Chinese-born pianist Lang Lang denied Monday that he sought to insult the United States with the choice of a song he played at a White House state dinner last week, despite the claims of some mainland Chinese and conservatives in the U.S. Lang Lang, the 28-year-old virtuoso who performed at a dinner for Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday, said he played "My Motherland" not because of its anti-American associations but entirely "for the beauty...

Someday the naysayers will be right, of course. Nothing lasts forever. But classical CDs and DVDs remain plentiful, and it was a great year. Buy, wrap and give the real thing while you still can. Downloads make lousy gifts. "Dinastia Borja" (Alia Vox), a sumptuously illustrated book with three sumptuously recorded CDs of some of the most enthralling Renaissance music you've ever heard, may be the one you want for yourself. The latest lavish set from the Catalan viol player and conductor Jordi Savall ?

Shrinking space and shrinking editorial IQ Three-fourths of Page 1 and a full page inside on someone named Tila Tequila ["Tequila's Sunset," March 14]? It's bad enough the Sunday Times has -- necessitated by a combination of the recession, Sam Zell and the Internet -- shrunk to but a shadow of its former self, but some editorial good sense should still prevail at The Times. To paraphrase Joseph Welch in responding to Joseph McCarthy's slurs against his client: "Have you no sense of decency, sir?

In Los Angeles, Alan Chapman is well known as a font of information about classical music. Since 1992, he has been one of the marquee voices of KUSC-FM (91.5), the all-classical-all-the-time public radio station, now hosting a morning show each weekday as well as two weekend shows he also produces, "Modern Times" and "Thornton Center Stage." And he has been a pre-concert lecture maven for even longer. A Yale-educated music theory scholar who teaches at the Colburn Conservatory, Chapman belies the cliché that those who can't do teach.

Palin plans next book Sarah Palin is ready for the next chapter of her publishing career. Publisher HarperCollins announced Wednesday that the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate is working on a "celebration of American virtues and strengths." The book is currently untitled, and no release date has been set. Palin's memoir, "Going Rogue," released last fall by HarperCollins, has sold more than 2 million copies. -- associated press Bon Jovi to echo Obama's call The audience at Bon Jovi's L.A. tour stop Thursday night at Staples Center will get the first look at a new video in which the New Jersey rock band's frontman, Jon Bon Jovi, goes to bat for President Obama's call for increased community volunteerism.

There's no doubt about it: Audiences love Lang Lang. At his Walt Disney Concert Hall recital Sunday night there seemed to be fewer empty seats than at Gustavo Dudamel's sold-out Verdi Requiem on Friday. And before the standing ovation faded for Lang, a long line had formed downstairs to meet him. As David Remnick suggested in a New Yorker profile last year, Lang is "an avatar of the Chinese ascendance" whose punishing programs display a titanic technique that thrills listeners. Here he performed two big Beethoven sonatas.