Main content

Internationally renowned Chinese pianist Lang Lang joins Kirsty Young to choose his eight Desert Island Discs.

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.

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 5 Nov 2010 09:00
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

More episodes

Previous

Nick Clegg

Next

Ian McMillan

See all episodes from Desert Island Discs

Music Played

  • Michael Jackson

    Thriller

    • Thriller.
    • Epic.

  • FrΓ©dΓ©ric Chopin

    Waltz in D flat major, Op. 64/1 'Minute Waltz'

    • Chopin: Piano Works.
    • RCA.

  • Eduardo Di Capua

    O sole mio

    Singer: Luciano Pavarotti. Singer: Luciano Pavarotti. Orchestra: National Philharmonic Orchestra. Orchestra: National Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Giancarlo Chiaramello. Conductor: Giancarlo Chiaramello.
    • Pavarotti in Hyde Park.
    • Decca.

  • FrΓ©dΓ©ric Chopin

    Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor - 2nd movement

    • Perahia plays Chopin.
    • Sony.

  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Piano Concerto No. 1 in B Flat Minor

    • Piano Concerto No.1..
    • RCA.

  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Franz Liszt

      Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2

      • Horowitz: Brahms: Concerto No.2 ….
      • RCA.

  • Lang Lang

    The Yellow River in Wrath from the Yellow River Piano Concerto

    Conductor: Xian Xinghai.
    • Lang Lang: Dragon Songs.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.

  • Leonard Bernstein

    Rhapsody in Blue

    • Gershwin:Rhapsody: Bernstein.
    • CBS.

  • Book Choice

    • The Analects of Confucius - Confucius

  • Luxury Choice

    • Two feathered pillows

Credits

Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Lang Lang

Broadcasts

  • Sun 31 Oct 2010 11:15
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
  • Fri 5 Nov 2010 09:00
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

The Desert Island Discs podcast

The Desert Island Discs podcast

Subscribe or download individual episodes.

Listen to over 2,000 programmes

Click above to browse castaways, from 1942 to today.

Articles

Read the surprising things we've learned about some stand-out castaways.

Podcast