Chinese keyboard talent Lang Lang attended the promotion event for his first all-Chinese music album in New York on Monday, once again obsessing his audience by fluid skill and full passion.

At the Lila Acheson Wallace Auditorium of Asia Society, Lang Lang played four pieces out of 11 that were recorded in the latest album Dragon Songs, and had an on-the-stage interview with Deanna Lee, vice president of communications of Asia Society.

Queried about his motive to make an all-Chinese music album, Lang Lang said: "Chinese music is somewhat regional and has not been recognized in the world. So I always feel the responsibility to rediscover the possibility of the global vision of Chinese music and bring new life to it."

The new album was released by Universal/Deutsche Grammophon on Jan. 9. It included classic Chinese music pieces such as Yellow River Piano Concerto, Autumn Moon on a Calm Lake, The Cowherd's Flute, Spring Flowers in the Moonlight Night on the River, and At Night on the Lake beneath the Maple Bridge.

"Chinese music leaves a lot of space to imagine things for yourself. It's just like a water-color painting," Lang Lang said.

As for Yellow River Piano Concerto, the most substantial composition on Dragon Songs, Lang Lang said he never fails to be inspired by the piece composed by Xian Xinghai in 1939 during the Japanese occupation.

"This piece helped to bring back our energy and self-confidence. It was like a wake-up call from the nightmare, a reminder that we would do great things again. It has a special meaning for me. I get very emotional when I play it because it's part of my culture, and I am really proud of this heritage."

Lang Lang has taken to playing traditional Chinese music as encores at his concerts, and the reaction of the audience all over the world has been overwhelming.

The ground-breaking attempt to take his international audiences on a journey through "his" China was realized in a homecoming tour in December 2005, during which Lang Lang made the CD recording in China's Central Music Conservatory in Beijing, the place of his early studies.

In this album, the soloist was joined by traditional Chinese instruments including the pipa (lute), the guanzi (double-reed pipe), and the guzheng (zither).

Lang Lang was born in Shenyang, China in 1982. He started to learn to play piano at the age of three and won his first competition at the age of five. Then he entered Beijing's Central Music Conservatory when he was nine and played the complete Chopin 24 Etudes at the Beijing Concert Hall at age 13.

In 1997, Lang Lang came to the United States and began studies with Gary Graffman at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, which he concluded in 2002.

His decisive career breakthrough came in August 1999 with his dramatic last-minute substitution for Andre Watts at the Ravinia Festival's "Gala of the Century," playing the First Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

After getting popular, Lang Lang worked with the world's most renowned conductors and orchestras and released eight albums, taking into account Dragon Songs.

Already in 2007, Lang Lang has earned a Golden Globe nomination for the scores of The Painted Veil, on which Lang Lang was the featured soloist. He can also be heard on the soundtrack of The Banquet composed by Tan Dun.

The biggest problem he faces now is the busy performance schedule, a record of 150 performances a year.

On Feb. 17-18, the start of this year's Chinese spring festival, Lang Lang will perform Bartok's Piano Concerto No. 2 with Vienna Philharmonic in the Vienna Golden Hall. In April, he will take part in Salzburg music festival, also in Austria.

In October, Lang Lang will be in Beijing to join the international music festival there, planning to play concertos of 10 world masters, such as Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky.

Lang Lang said he has no plan to slow down right now, but he expected to cut his schedule by half after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

(Xinhua News Agency January 30, 2007)