Cal Vid's video: Lang Lang Plays Disney Can You Feel The Love Tonight

The world-renowned classical pianist in concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London lends his peerless technique and stirring stage presence to Elton John's "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" from The Lion King. Lang Lang Plays Disney performs solo with the support of a full orchestra. “Lang Lang is a unique artist and certainly a unique classical artist,” veteran record producer Ron Fair says over a montage of action shots featuring Lang’s furious fingers flying across the ivories, “because this guy has superpowers.” The Gist: The world of classical music would certainly agree with that assessment. Now in his early forties, Lang Lang has performed regularly with top-flight orchestras around the world, from Berlin and Vienna and in the US to performances in his native China. For this special, Lang’s piano is joined by a full orchestra on stage at Royal Albert Hall, and the fleets of strings and brass, harpists, bassoonists, and massive timpani drums fill out the arrangements of classic Disney stuff like the “Beauty and the Beast” theme, “Feed the Birds” from Mary Poppins, and a “Whole New World” from Aladdin, which finds the pianist in a contemplative solo mood. “One of the challenges of this project is actually quite hard,” Lang Lang says in one of the brief interview segments that accompany the performances in Lang Lang Plays Disney. “How to make already existing great melodies from Disney films itself into a pianistic work with orchestra? You have to rewrite a lot of things.” Not that he’s taking a red pen to these enduring compositions. But the arrangements shift and the emphasis differs for what is being undertaken with the instruments at hand. And to that end, the special brings us into the rehearsal rooms at Henry Wood Hall in London, where Lang Lang, his conductor, and their fellow musicians speak a language of bars, octaves, arpeggios, and measures as they work out how they’ll interpret the material and bring it to life. Lang Lang has been lauded for his technique, in addition to a flair for showmanship that has helped him infuse new energy into the classical music form. But for the material in Lang Lang Plays Disney, the pianist says that it’s not just about technique for technique’s sake. Sure, his hands will fly up and down the keys with astounding technical ability. (He definitely does that a lot.) But of that style of playing, Lang says, “It has to serve the music one hundred percent.” And onstage at Royal Albert Hall, which becomes a supporting player as the lighting shifts with each mood, Lang applies a touch that’s careful and quiet or giant and forceful, depending on the requirements of each particular piece. What Shows Will It Remind You Of? If Lang Lang’s interpretation of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” sets you off, Disney+ also features Elton John: Farewell from Dodger Stadium. And while it doesn’t seem to be streamable in the US without a subscription, The Piano is a series for Channel 4 in the UK that features Lang Lang and singer-songwriter Mika observing amateur musicians as they play pianos set up inside bustling train stations. Parting Shot: “This concert really showed every aspect of our goal,” Lang Lang says over shots of a cheering crowd, bows, and thank you’s all around on stage. “The aim is to get everyone to have their own young heart moment. No matter how old or how young you are, Disney music has this magic power. Your mind can fly…” Our Call: STREAM IT, especially if you’re prepared to swoon over the sweep of a classic Disney melody. All of the performances in Lang Lang Plays Disney are first-rate. But it’s in the quietest space between an orchestral flourish and a final moment or two on the keys where Lang Lang’s playing really shines. Source: Decider