SOUNDTRACK: LANG LANG-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #11 (April 17, 2020).
Lang Lang is a superstar pianist whom I have never heard of. But I agree with the blurb that it’s neat to see a fantastic pianist playing at home. He seems relaxed and loose. And the camera angle allows us to see his fingers (and his whole swaying body) pretty clearly.
Here’s something unique: a chance to eavesdrop on the superstar pianist Lang Lang at home.
The 37-year-old pianist, who typically plays sold-out shows to thousands, says he’s taking his recent solitary time to learn new repertoire at home in Shanghai, China. And home is where he thinks we should all be.
He opens with Chopin’s calming “Nocturne No. 20 in C-sharp minor.” I loved watching him slowly and deliberately play that last note. It seems like he holds his finger above it for minutes, but it fits in perfectly.
Lang Lang’s latest passion is Bach – specifically the Goldberg Variations, a 75-minute-long cycle of immense complexity grounded in the composer’s durable beauty. Lang Lang offers the “18th and 19th variations,” pieces that in turn represent the strength of logic and the joy of the dance. It’s music, Lang Lang says, that “always brings me to play in another level of artistic thinking.”
These pieces are just magical. Even if I don;t know them well, I can tell pretty immediately that they are Bach. Lang Lang’s fluidity is wonderful, as is the way his whole body seems to be absorbing the music as he plays.
[READ: April 11, 2020]: Carnet de Voyage
From March 5 thru May 14, 2004 Craig Thompson was on an international book tour celebrating the success of his (fantastic) book Blankets.
This journal was his visual diary (no cameras were used, only his memory) of his trip. His editors thought it would be interesting for him to document his trip (and it is).
He flies into Paris then a 2 hour plane trip to Lyon. He draws pictures of where he has been and the people he has met (and some of their fascinating stories). There’s some wonderful sketches of rooftops from hotel windows.
He does interviews for radio and magazines. He laughs that one of the photos shoots was in the streets of Paris, where he is all dressed up. But really he’s a county bumpkin from Wisconsin. The drawing of himself as a glamorous guy and his bumpkin alter ego together is pretty hilarious.
On March 15 he left for Marrakesh, Morocco and this exotic location rally sets the stage for most of his artwork and what is sort of the only “plot” in the book.
He had also just broken up with his girlfriend which weighs on his mind quite a lot on the tour.
He draws much of his experience–the sights, the people, the culture and how out of place he feels,
When they saw him drawing, people always asked him to draw them–he wound up giving away many drawings that he might normally have asked money for.
After a few days, he left Marrakesh for Merzouga for a camel trek. It was utterly foreign to his experience. After a few days he returned to Marrakesh which now felt overwhelming in its cartoon exoticness.
He hits a bout of depression especially when the arthritis in his hands acts p from signing and drawing all the time.
Eventually, he goes to Fez where there is literally blood running in the streets as chickens are decapitated inches from your face. Even though he met some nice people, leaving Fez was a wonderful feeling.
After leaving Marrakesh he heads back to France and to some of his friends. Things are better here. He draws some funny pictures of himself skiing and snowboarding. And a lot of cats.
He headed to Toulouse, and then to Montpelier to hang out with some other cartoonist friends including Lewis Trondheim. There’s lots of great food. He also gets electrotherapy for his arthritis, which helps somewhat.
On May 1st he went to Geneva, Switzerland for the Geneva Book Expo and then off to Barcelona where he was able to hang out with some more cartoonist friends like Mike Allred.
Throughout the book he has drawn pictures of beautiful women that he saw on the streets or talked to. He bemoaned the fact that he was now single and that all the women were paired up. By the end of the book, he finally connects with a Swedish woman who suggests that one “should try something new every day and do everything you can with your body.” Tasteful drawings follow.
Interestingly, he still had more travelling to do: Bilbao, Spain, Lyon and Paris France and then to Amsterdam. Then a festival in London, Erlangen and signings throughout Frankfurt. But the book has to end because he has a deadline and a maximum page output of 224 pages.
he was really weirded out by this because Blankets took so long to create and polish and rework. But this book was going to be finished before the story was done and was going to be send to the publishers and prepared before he even returned home!
This updated edition has a epilogue. Twelve years later in March of 2015 he returned to Lyon and visited the families he had stayed with. The adorable three year old baby is now taller than he is!
Here’s a nice inside into Europe: It is an American attitude to hide a baby from germs. We know that an immune system needs to be educated, so it should encounter some germs.”
I wonder how that plays out with the current virus situation.
I really enjoyed this travelogue and wish that I could so freely (and wonderfully) draw everything I saw from memory.
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