Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing.
Speaker 1: Rock Star is the wrong word by definition, but classical
Speaker 1: star doesn't quite get at Long Long's place in the pantheon.
Speaker 1: He's a serious pianist playing serious repertoire with a flare.
Speaker 1: Here it's a Schubert fantasy in front of a sold out,
Speaker 1: crowded Carnegie Hall. Once tempted to say he's one part
Speaker 1: Glenn Gould, one part Van Clyburne, but the truth is
Speaker 1: he's Long Long. He and his signature Beaufon, were the
Speaker 1: obvious choice to open the Beijing Olympics, watched by four
Speaker 1: billion people, and for President Obama to invite to play
Speaker 1: at the intimate White House dinner for the President of China.
Speaker 1: Long Long takes an obvious joy in his art and
Speaker 1: his fame, but both are hard won. A musical prodigy,
Speaker 1: he was the son of two talented artists forced to
Speaker 1: abandon their dreams by the Cultural Revolution. Just a few
Speaker 1: years after he won a national competition at the age
Speaker 1: of five, his father abandoned everything else in his life
Speaker 1: to focus on his son's talent. They moved together to Beijing.
Speaker 1: Long Long won so many contests that he was offered
Speaker 1: a spot by the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: His father moved with him to America too. All that
Speaker 1: vicarious ambition took its toll on their bond, but over
Speaker 1: the years it returned. We're very close. Our conversation was
Speaker 1: taped in front of a live audience at w n
Speaker 1: YCS Green Space. We're really much better than when I
Speaker 1: was a nine year much better. It was not in
Speaker 1: the same level. Yeah, we were really and it's getting
Speaker 1: closer somehow because we are not living together. So in
Speaker 1: a way, you know, these tents makes beauty, right, So
Speaker 1: so that's that's how exactly happened. In his mind, he
Speaker 1: must have a kind of a mixed feeling, the euphoria
Speaker 1: of you having made it to the degree you've made it,
Speaker 1: and at the same time he's not around you. I
Speaker 1: know that if I was your dad, I'm obsessed with
Speaker 1: my kids. And if I was like your dad and
Speaker 1: I was instrumental and influential in helping you become what
Speaker 1: you became, then all of a sudden you were like, Okay, Dad,
Speaker 1: I got this, and you're gonna move out on your own.
Speaker 1: I'd be like, wait, no. You know, if you were
Speaker 1: my son, I want to live with you forever. So
Speaker 1: I mean, he, um, where is to do with himself?
Speaker 1: And I think you're not living together? He's actually uh,
Speaker 1: he's helping me a lot in China back home, and
Speaker 1: then he's also teaching a lot. He liked to helping
Speaker 1: the next generation of musicians and uh, and he himself
Speaker 1: was a musician. Yeah, he played the are Who the
Speaker 1: Chinese valnin um so um that was his um using
Speaker 1: some like circus bans. He was in an Air Force ban.
Speaker 1: But yeah, before I was in a circus ban. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But the instrument itself is very beautiful. It's like one
Speaker 1: of the most charming instruments from Asia, and it's very tasteful.
Speaker 1: It has a really beautiful taste and and it's also
Speaker 1: an instrument always makes you cry somehow Yeah yeah, so
Speaker 1: so sometimes, I mean, my father made me cry this
Speaker 1: different reason. You weren't crying because he broke out what
Speaker 1: is it called again? Are Who? Are Who? Yeah? Are Who? Yeah?
Speaker 1: More like that. Yeah, I'll get my Chinese produced eventually,
Speaker 1: but maybe by the time we're done. But but but
Speaker 1: then you your country, your native country is very driven
Speaker 1: by competitions and international competitions. They put a tremendous emphasis
Speaker 1: on that. Correct, absolutely the best way to make career.
Speaker 1: We're meaning the competitions and which is the truth, especially
Speaker 1: during that time, because otherwise nobody will discover you, you know,
Speaker 1: in a way. So we we have to go out
Speaker 1: for international competitions and to win prizes. So being number one,
Speaker 1: it's kind of became a motto in my early career.
Speaker 1: And then how farst um after I landed here, I
Speaker 1: had this teacher, great pianist, Gary Graffman, who who's also
Speaker 1: quite different compared to the other academic professors because he
Speaker 1: is so into, you know, a real career rather than
Speaker 1: a short term being you know, a price winner. So
Speaker 1: he discoursed me to do competitions and I was like, wow,
Speaker 1: really did he say? Why? Yeah? He said, then you're
Speaker 1: too crazy about being number one and you're not really
Speaker 1: focused on what you should be, you know, learning the
Speaker 1: repertoire and too he said, do you want to become
Speaker 1: a great musician or you want to just win? And
Speaker 1: I said, oh, I said, is that not the same?
Speaker 1: I said, what was the difference? I said, if I
Speaker 1: don't win a prize, how I'm going to become a
Speaker 1: great musician. He said, Oh, okay, that's the wrong understanding
Speaker 1: you have, and especially his wife, you know, Naomi. Every
Speaker 1: time I go to library in uh In Curtis and
Speaker 1: then uh I started looking over the competition forms like
Speaker 1: Monk Clyburn, Chopin, Shakhovsky, and I take it out and
Speaker 1: then I'm thinking to feel the form, right, And I
Speaker 1: saw Naomi next to me, Hey, what are you doing?
Speaker 1: Bad boy? H shouldn't you just working on your broms
Speaker 1: second piano concerto rather than, you know, feeling the form?
Speaker 1: Try to be crazy number one. Somehow, I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: let me go back to when you're when you when
Speaker 1: you when you're young, you won your first competition when
Speaker 1: you were five? Correct, Yeah, I mean that's that's what
Speaker 1: what I was kind of election. Yeah, I was like,
Speaker 1: kind of a professional competition person. You know, I'm very competitive.
Speaker 1: If I see you, let's let's do a commodation now
Speaker 1: anyway I see you, Yeah, let's do it. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna bother you with our compo. You're the winner. Let's
Speaker 1: skip to that. But but but what fascinates me is
Speaker 1: the emotion and the feeling behind that kind of work.
Speaker 1: When you're five years old, if you can recall, are
Speaker 1: you sitting at a piano and it's pressure, and it's tense,
Speaker 1: and it's like you have to pass a test because
Speaker 1: it's a competition and you're and and there's there's a
Speaker 1: kind of a tight feeling you have where you want
Speaker 1: or are you enjoying yourself when you're five years old? Um.
Speaker 1: One thing good about competition is that it's kind of
Speaker 1: pushes you to play better than you're normally does because
Speaker 1: you you try to play without round notes, you try
Speaker 1: to be concentrate on what you do. But also, in
Speaker 1: the same time, if you are too serious about competition,
Speaker 1: you lose your soul in a way that you are
Speaker 1: afraid to do something wrong. And as you know in art,
Speaker 1: sometimes when you really do something unique, you are actually
Speaker 1: not really on the page, you're actually doing something but
Speaker 1: that that is a really great moment. So so in
Speaker 1: a way, it's it's hard to say, you know, it's
Speaker 1: hard to say, but I kind of enjoyed it because
Speaker 1: sometimes I lose. Sometimes I win is encouraging me to
Speaker 1: do better. UM, And actually I learn more than UM
Speaker 1: than just playing because I see others playing and I'm like, wow,
Speaker 1: they're good. I need to catch up, you know. So
Speaker 1: so this is a good, good vibe. It's funny to
Speaker 1: see you, of all people, and you watching other five
Speaker 1: year old kid playing and you're like, damn, he's good.
Speaker 1: I couldn't do that when I was let's have a competition,
Speaker 1: you would be right. Now you're challenging everyone to a
Speaker 1: duel at the piano. Now what was missing in your childhood?
Speaker 1: What did you wish you had? More of the video games?
Speaker 1: Uh more, more sports? Uh more? Free free time, free time?
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, but now I mean at eight thirty six,
Speaker 1: I can have more free times you might want. So
Speaker 1: it's in the end, it's kind of okay. Postponed it.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, postponed it. Yeah, but but in
Speaker 1: a way that I wish that I may have a
Speaker 1: little bit more more fun time, you know, to maybe
Speaker 1: less pressure. I would say, yeah, yeah, did your dad
Speaker 1: say I'm sorry that it was so tough and I'm
Speaker 1: so off. He never apolished, so I think the best
Speaker 1: action he was like, oh yeah, let yourself handle your stuff,
Speaker 1: and I'm not going to handle it anymore. I think
Speaker 1: that's that's the the way that he has the management
Speaker 1: onto you right right right, and now he's cheerless off.
Speaker 1: My mom said, older, important concert you are going, and
Speaker 1: then you have a nice photo. He likes to have
Speaker 1: some nice photos. You know, your mother is doing a
Speaker 1: lot of traveling with your father. So what's your mother's
Speaker 1: answering with all the travel? Just one martini is what
Speaker 1: her program is. She does come in handy for somethingle
Speaker 1: if she has this natural some kind of a you know,
Speaker 1: she's just never get tired. She's incredible. I think I
Speaker 1: got some of my energy from her. Her eyes are
Speaker 1: always like this. Yeah. But before she started traveling with me,
Speaker 1: she always sleep really early, like already you know, I'm
Speaker 1: very healthy, right. But then she now traveled with me
Speaker 1: far fall a few years already, and now she's like,
Speaker 1: never sleep before three, three or two at least. But
Speaker 1: she looks better than before. So I think it's the
Speaker 1: music therapy, you know. I think, you know, she's just everywhere,
Speaker 1: like every time I play something, you better crumpting. What's
Speaker 1: on your own? Mother? Uh? Is there a piece you
Speaker 1: play that is exceptionally challenging to you? Is there one
Speaker 1: that even you every time you play a new piece,
Speaker 1: whether it's a technically easy or difficult, there's always a
Speaker 1: new story to tell. And somehow it's not all about
Speaker 1: you know, play the note anymore, you know, as growing
Speaker 1: up pianist, So more about how to bring those music
Speaker 1: to life again, um and into you know, a different interpretation.
Speaker 1: So therefore every piece is you have to focus and
Speaker 1: in a very different style of course. Yeah, but I
Speaker 1: wouldn't say this piece I just you know, kind of
Speaker 1: I don't need to care much and it will come
Speaker 1: out in a great way. No way. You have to
Speaker 1: really focus and to concentrate. So that's why, like in
Speaker 1: in this new album, the in a book, it's the
Speaker 1: same thing. There are many pieces considered be pretty simple,
Speaker 1: but once you start to read look into those pieces
Speaker 1: and you're like, those are master pieces. It's not simple.
Speaker 1: Maybe technically simple, but if you want to make real,
Speaker 1: you know, music out of it, you have to be
Speaker 1: focused and to play everything in your mind to you know,
Speaker 1: to make it work. Yeah. Well, there, of course is
Speaker 1: my first uh slip up here, which is that you
Speaker 1: brought up your book before I did, which is no, no,
Speaker 1: which is a bad hosting on my part. I should
Speaker 1: have mentioned that you have your new book out, the
Speaker 1: piano book and the CD which I have. And one
Speaker 1: thing I do, which is a silly, uh preoccupation, is
Speaker 1: I go to an iTunes or any kind of a
Speaker 1: download service and I look and see the length. So
Speaker 1: it plays the mal or ninth fourth movement, the longest
Speaker 1: and the slowest, the most tortured fourth move to the mouth.
Speaker 1: And you do, Claire Dulon, you squeeze the hell out
Speaker 1: of that. You really play the very long yes, luxuri um.
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, after getting a little older,
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be even longer. And I've
Speaker 1: joked I don't know worry. I mean, the other day
Speaker 1: there's the one critic said, you know, from the curb duloons, Uh,
Speaker 1: the way I played, I think long Lone places Goldberg
Speaker 1: with a two hour and thirty minutes, and I think
Speaker 1: it's a that's kind of a right thing to say.
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to figure out how long I'm gonna
Speaker 1: play that piece. Uh, but you know what, I just
Speaker 1: want to enjoy the moment and I wanted to make
Speaker 1: sure that I heard everything from that piece. I have
Speaker 1: another question for you that, of course we have a
Speaker 1: piano here which is just a suggestion only don't feel
Speaker 1: any pressure. It's there in case you feel incline. That's you.
Speaker 1: You know. I like this way of you know, inviting
Speaker 1: someone to play. Yeah, there's one friend of my um
Speaker 1: it was, you know, the birthday of mine, and so
Speaker 1: he inmited me to his house and he said, you know,
Speaker 1: I know today's your birthday. Probably you will not play today,
Speaker 1: but I just want to know. It's also my mother's birthday.
Speaker 1: No pressure, So I played Heppy birthday for her. Also,
Speaker 1: I heard it was public South and there's a like
Speaker 1: rich lady in London always inviting him for tea um
Speaker 1: and but he always has something to do. He did
Speaker 1: not have time, and there's a family he came and
Speaker 1: then the ladies like where is your chilu? Because I
Speaker 1: was you did not you might my cello today Billy
Speaker 1: Billy Joe did our show and Billy said that that
Speaker 1: everywhere he goes. You know, obviously a considerable number of
Speaker 1: people have a piano in their home, and he said
Speaker 1: everywhere he goes, they're like, Billy, do you mind just
Speaker 1: one quick tune? And and and everywhere he goes it's
Speaker 1: like we play Christmas carols at the Christmas party? Where
Speaker 1: do you find the same thing as true? Our people
Speaker 1: constantly saying, but they do in a different way now
Speaker 1: they say, uh, what am traveling? Oh so to you
Speaker 1: need a place to practice anytime twenty four hours. I
Speaker 1: don't have neighbors. It's okay, it's myself. I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: I got it. I got it. Now before we get
Speaker 1: to some other subjects that I've got a lot of questions. Here,
Speaker 1: would you be gay less with some little yeah? I
Speaker 1: will play yeah, I will play a one off of
Speaker 1: the piece from the RICORDI. I don't know whish why,
Speaker 1: but I snyeah, they will come to you. M m yea,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you. This is the Vaults of Emily
Speaker 1: from the movie Emily. It's really nice, nice movie. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: the describe for us how did the piano book come about?
Speaker 1: Whose idea was this? I always wanted to do an
Speaker 1: album like this because when I was a kid, I
Speaker 1: barely find um the professional musician recording pieces like or
Speaker 1: Unies or Cherney atudes, or Clementi so natina or most
Speaker 1: Art so natina, or some of the piece which you
Speaker 1: consider be the beginner's piece. Um. But those are the
Speaker 1: pieces I love the most when I was a kid.
Speaker 1: And then those those are my best friend. And sometimes
Speaker 1: it's not best friends. Sometimes after a lot of practice,
Speaker 1: become my worst friend. Uh. Sometimes sometimes I want to
Speaker 1: kill them. Yeah, but in the end of the day,
Speaker 1: you know, those are the brand and butter made UH
Speaker 1: pianist to grow. Um So, so therefore I wanted to,
Speaker 1: you know, to record something which can be appreciated by
Speaker 1: every person who loves piano. Um. So that's why we
Speaker 1: called the album the Piano Album. Yeah, and this is
Speaker 1: for Deutsche and then it's it's already in release because
Speaker 1: I have it on my phone. I don't thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you? What was worth it? Believe thanks? I I
Speaker 1: hope it's brings some something nice feelings. And I don't
Speaker 1: don't always count the minute, please yeah that five second? Now, Now,
Speaker 1: when you when you when you when you're leaving uh
Speaker 1: very shortly in the next few days to go on
Speaker 1: a tour, and you're you're gonna have a um You're
Speaker 1: going to Rome and then you're going on to Korea Pacific.
Speaker 1: So for now, when you go on these trips, the
Speaker 1: first thing that comes to mind is that you know
Speaker 1: you grew up in uh, communist China, and of course
Speaker 1: Americans have their own you know, um unreliable images of
Speaker 1: China and what what goes on in China. I don't
Speaker 1: think they're quite sure. But for me, what I'm curious
Speaker 1: about is how did the cultural revolution in China impact
Speaker 1: your parents. When there's an impact on your mom, I
Speaker 1: think that the revolution, of course this is from their
Speaker 1: their generation. I wasn't there, but it certainly gave them
Speaker 1: incredible um kind of I mean openness to to the
Speaker 1: next generation. They want their kid, you know, to to
Speaker 1: uh to be a citizen of the world. And they
Speaker 1: you know, in a way that because they kind of
Speaker 1: missed ten years of time to not connected to to
Speaker 1: the world. Um and so so in a way that
Speaker 1: that's why my generation of Chinese kids, um and not
Speaker 1: kids anymore. Um. UM, we are very you know trying
Speaker 1: to you know, learn piano and to to get connected
Speaker 1: to the world of course being Chinese, but also a
Speaker 1: world citizen. UM. So of like the our mission is
Speaker 1: bridging the culture together. UM. This is your home now
Speaker 1: in New York, New York home. Move to New York
Speaker 1: in two thousand seven, after UM ten years in Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: um since ninety seven and Curtis, Yeah, I was studying there,
Speaker 1: um and then I was waiting to earn more money
Speaker 1: to for the department here. So how's that going. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it worked since two thousand seven, So that's that's why
Speaker 1: I moved here. And uh, when I came to America
Speaker 1: in ninety six, I was just fourteen and and I
Speaker 1: thought New York is such a a CD with the
Speaker 1: whole world behind. So I always wanted to to come
Speaker 1: here to uh, you know, to be part of this. Um.
Speaker 1: I mean because the cultural scene here is obviously very real.
Speaker 1: New York as a cultural capital like other great cities,
Speaker 1: but but maybe not as much as other cities. There
Speaker 1: was no in Paris. I mean I actually do have
Speaker 1: a new home in Paris fully six, so I mean
Speaker 1: sold a few records, so it would be like Beijing,
Speaker 1: New York on Paris. Like my yeah, but new sounds
Speaker 1: like the perfect triangle New York, Beijing, Paris. But but
Speaker 1: but but so when you when you travel the world,
Speaker 1: are there halls that you play in or their people
Speaker 1: that you play, ensembles that you play with that you
Speaker 1: really get excited about? Like, what are among your favorite
Speaker 1: spaces to perform it. I know that the acoustics are
Speaker 1: very much of an issue because being on the board
Speaker 1: of the Philharmonic and they're gonna be dynamiting David Geffen
Speaker 1: Hall very shortly in the next year or two to
Speaker 1: be dull of Geffen Hall. What's the space that when
Speaker 1: you perform you just love the sound of that space? Um.
Speaker 1: I mean there are many beautiful holes in the world. Um.
Speaker 1: And of course you have Carnegie Hall. Here have Boston
Speaker 1: Symphony Hall, it's really amazing sound. Um. And you have
Speaker 1: the Music Faraye Concert House in Vienna, um and U.
Speaker 1: And one of the very beautiful look um, like this
Speaker 1: beautiful look is the Royal Arbort Hall in London. Maybe
Speaker 1: the sound is not great, but it looks great, you
Speaker 1: know e sometimes that come to you know, for TVD recording,
Speaker 1: you know, live streaming. Nice place. Yeah, and uh, but
Speaker 1: it's a really interesting because for pianists were normally play
Speaker 1: on the side, right, so so we never really look
Speaker 1: into audience somehow. I mean, if you want you do
Speaker 1: like this right and then but in the Royal Arbort
Speaker 1: Hall it's a round right, so everywhere's audien. So first
Speaker 1: time I felt really nervous when I start playing Mozart,
Speaker 1: you know, so delicate, and then I see someone sweeping
Speaker 1: at me. I was like, oh, this is only downside.
Speaker 1: I was playing the round House, you know, and I'm
Speaker 1: thinking about cellist every day, you know, playing like wow,
Speaker 1: that's that's tough. I move with you with Manhattan School
Speaker 1: of Music. I told you about this story. We're in
Speaker 1: Central Park and you're playing Rhapsody in Blue and you're
Speaker 1: there with the Philharmonic with Alan. It's the concert in
Speaker 1: the Park and where that's obviously where the reverse you'd
Speaker 1: be facing the other way, and you're playing the piano
Speaker 1: and you get to this the most tender and the
Speaker 1: most beautiful, the most gorgeous moment in that soft piano
Speaker 1: part of Rhapso and Blue. And you get to the
Speaker 1: end of the keyboard and you took this nano second
Speaker 1: to look at the audience. Of course I'm projecting here.
Speaker 1: And you get to the end of the piano and
Speaker 1: you look at the You're like, you really love me,
Speaker 1: You're really crazy about me. When I do this, When
Speaker 1: I do this to this piano, you go crazy, don't you.
Speaker 1: I know you do like, yeah, it's me. Yeah, with
Speaker 1: you and I said that your mother, and your mother
Speaker 1: goes exactly. That's him. That's what he does. The great
Speaker 1: pianist Long Long. He took his first lesson when he
Speaker 1: was just three years old. You know who else got
Speaker 1: his start at three? It Sack Proman playing on a
Speaker 1: toy violin in his bedroom. I love the sound of
Speaker 1: the violin. I heard it on the radio and I said,
Speaker 1: that's what I want to do. Simple, that's what I
Speaker 1: want to do. And there's no explanation. You know, everybody
Speaker 1: has a different thing that grabs their imagination. And the
Speaker 1: violent sound was that, and I think it was fitz
Speaker 1: So he was pretty good for grabbing the imagination. You know,
Speaker 1: my full interview with its perman can be found. And
Speaker 1: here's the thing, dot Org long Long on music that
Speaker 1: moves him coming up. Yeah, I'm Alec Baldwin and you're
Speaker 1: listening to here's the thing. Long Long had barely hit
Speaker 1: puberty when he and his father landed in Philadelphia from Shenyang.
Speaker 1: The Curtis Institute of Music awarded Long Long of full scholarship.
Speaker 1: But teenagers still need a high school education. I still
Speaker 1: remember my first day in Phildelphia in high school and
Speaker 1: I went into the class and they say, and so
Speaker 1: introduce yourself, and I said, yeah, I'm I'm playing piano.
Speaker 1: I come here to to study classical music. And everybody
Speaker 1: looks at me. It's like they're seeing an alien. What
Speaker 1: a s a Mozart? You know Mozart? I say, I
Speaker 1: heard about that guy. Yeah, he's dead for many years. Right,
Speaker 1: I'm like, wow, this is something you know, I've been
Speaker 1: in a bubble. Oh. By the way, I also record Chopstick,
Speaker 1: you know, but I did not know that piece in China.
Speaker 1: I did not know Chopstick. I know Chopstick, you know.
Speaker 1: But so so they so, you know, so they find
Speaker 1: me that jug my career would be over. Right. So
Speaker 1: so one day where you might them backstage offended off
Speaker 1: our course for there's a piano. They were in the
Speaker 1: rehearsal for two minutes and they cannot stand anymore. That
Speaker 1: they all came out because they just couldn't listen to symphony.
Speaker 1: And and they said, look, if there's a piano there,
Speaker 1: can you play chap stick? And and I also, yeah,
Speaker 1: so I don't. I don't really know. And then but
Speaker 1: they showed me and I started. But from that moment on,
Speaker 1: we became really good friends. It's also you know, this
Speaker 1: culture class is kind of you know, we went through
Speaker 1: that that point, um, and then I realized, you know,
Speaker 1: one day I should help my friend and classmate to
Speaker 1: have a bit of uh, you know, music inspirations in
Speaker 1: the school. So therefore, ten years ago we found it
Speaker 1: that the non non international Music Foundation in New York
Speaker 1: and now we have almost sixty schools. And I also
Speaker 1: want to thank thank you. But I also I want
Speaker 1: to have this opportunity to thank alk because from the
Speaker 1: first time when we played concert, Alec was the host
Speaker 1: already and then in every every fund reasing time he's
Speaker 1: always there and he's also U you know, don't hard
Speaker 1: to you thank you know, we really appreciate your help.
Speaker 1: And so the foundation has been in existence for how
Speaker 1: long now ten years? Ten years? Yeah, and sixty schools
Speaker 1: in the US around the world. Yeah, how would you say,
Speaker 1: I mean to the extent that this is possible because
Speaker 1: I'm always quick to to undervalue or under emphasize the
Speaker 1: American experience, if you will. But you are a prodigy, obviously,
Speaker 1: and it's not Gonnam dead at the piano since you're
Speaker 1: five years old, how much would you say, the United States,
Speaker 1: and your experience of living United States helped to crystallize
Speaker 1: some of your talents. Um. I was very lucky. I
Speaker 1: had this best teacher in the world, Barack Graffman Curtis. Yeah, Curtis.
Speaker 1: He basically became a lifetime mentor to me. Um. And
Speaker 1: so because this is quite important, there are many schools,
Speaker 1: many different teachers. You need to find someone who's having
Speaker 1: a you know, green college, but also fits your style.
Speaker 1: And in the way Gary is that absolutely the right
Speaker 1: one because he taught me so much about different culture
Speaker 1: because you know, learning piano, this is not just playing
Speaker 1: the note. You have to learn the culture, and you
Speaker 1: have to learn the history. You need to learn their culture, roots,
Speaker 1: folk music, and somehow you're learning the culture of the
Speaker 1: world and you really need to dig into it. Um.
Speaker 1: And then I think in the US it's a it's
Speaker 1: a really um. You have so many different neighborhood you know,
Speaker 1: if you want to find more European neighborhood like German Town,
Speaker 1: you're under the French quarter um or you know, so
Speaker 1: you always find people from different culture and they can
Speaker 1: share you know, their their culture with you. Uh. And
Speaker 1: and I still remember the first few years it was
Speaker 1: very difficult for me to understand the culture. And then
Speaker 1: uh Gary found a wonderful teacher who taught me Shakespeare. Um.
Speaker 1: Then you know, after reading a few of the books,
Speaker 1: that I starting to understand the Western classic music. You know,
Speaker 1: the readationship between you know, the music to the art
Speaker 1: theme you know, to the novels. You know too, you
Speaker 1: have to have the surroundings. And then of course not
Speaker 1: only US is important. You also need to go to
Speaker 1: Europe because this is some of some of the greatest composers,
Speaker 1: like going to Moscow and our Saint Petersburg, going to Vienna,
Speaker 1: going to Berlin, Hamburg, Paris and our Madrid. You know,
Speaker 1: to get into the European culture. What does a conductor
Speaker 1: have to offer you these days at your level? Um,
Speaker 1: when I was a teenager, I had many great life
Speaker 1: experience with you know, conductors like salalish Uh, Laura Mazell
Speaker 1: Uh and they're like my grandfather, you know, they're like
Speaker 1: a totally different generation and from a totally different time.
Speaker 1: And so they told me how to understand payto and
Speaker 1: how to understand Brahms, how to understand you know in
Speaker 1: a way that it's hard to explain in the schools,
Speaker 1: but this is like face to face. They show you
Speaker 1: the feeling, you know, like they basically even though sometimes
Speaker 1: they don't sing really well, they can really show what
Speaker 1: they want. And those are kind of life experiences. And
Speaker 1: this is something that I'm so treading because some of
Speaker 1: those masters already passed away and I still have a
Speaker 1: beautiful memories of my first time meetings about it or Mozelle. Um.
Speaker 1: And this is just tremendous experience for me. Name if
Speaker 1: you can't a couple of kind of conductors who you
Speaker 1: really love working, Yeah, absolutely, uh, Costavo do them. He's
Speaker 1: my great buddy. I love him. We just played yes,
Speaker 1: I mean before yesterday in l a um and then
Speaker 1: pay to the number two. Yeah. And also I love
Speaker 1: the new conductor of Burning Pharmonic uh, Careo Patriinko, which
Speaker 1: is going to be starting with Burning Field this season.
Speaker 1: Um and uh and of course I love to be meta.
Speaker 1: He showed me all the tricks what Harvest did with
Speaker 1: him the Rachmano third Concerto. And also when I played
Speaker 1: chopin number one, he said, this, honest not good enough.
Speaker 1: I said, I said, so, so what do you think?
Speaker 1: He said? Yeah, I play with his other room in style.
Speaker 1: He did not play like this. Show me my star
Speaker 1: showed me and he said, I don't know how to
Speaker 1: do that, but he did like this are you still learning?
Speaker 1: So here's the thing. You know, sometimes you you go
Speaker 1: to a master class and um, you learn a lot
Speaker 1: of things in that class, and then afterwards it helps
Speaker 1: you a little bit, you know, for a few more weeks.
Speaker 1: If someone's really good, real master, you will hear a
Speaker 1: master class and that class will carry at least another
Speaker 1: ten years. And every time you think about, you know
Speaker 1: what he or she told you, And then that class
Speaker 1: is not just about how to make music, but it's
Speaker 1: it's a really the way how are you going to
Speaker 1: think about music and how you connect with your personality
Speaker 1: you know, to the composers, and how are you breading
Speaker 1: your imagination into the music, and how are you going
Speaker 1: to develop your next ten years? So they basically make
Speaker 1: you think much more than who you are. Few musicians
Speaker 1: can really do that, and it really brings you to
Speaker 1: think much deeper and to think about in a very
Speaker 1: different concept. Um and I still remember working with the Maesro,
Speaker 1: Nicholas Hannon, core um Mozart and of course I played
Speaker 1: many times motar concertos, but that lesson I played, Um,
Speaker 1: he showed me something that I had never seen. Mozart
Speaker 1: can be described or interpreted in that way, and that
Speaker 1: changed the whole time. You You you basically think, oh
Speaker 1: my god, what I did was wrong, you know, and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna relearn everything. So so you know, some musicians
Speaker 1: have that power to really restart your thinking of everything. Yeah,
Speaker 1: are you gonna tell us what he said about Mozart?
Speaker 1: These people love class or is that a secret? That
Speaker 1: an industry secret? Nothing? I mean, I think I play
Speaker 1: a little bit of now would be the perfect time
Speaker 1: for that. It's yeah, it's a little bit hard to
Speaker 1: to describe because it's you don't need to describe it.
Speaker 1: You can just do it. I play two variations from
Speaker 1: the Twink of Twinkle variation, right, and let's take a
Speaker 1: couple more. Um the uh, was there a moment in
Speaker 1: your life? I mean, I know I asked these sappy questions,
Speaker 1: but it was there a moment in your life when
Speaker 1: you said, I really am pretty good at this? Like
Speaker 1: when did you realize you were becoming the person that
Speaker 1: you became? It happened few times, Yeah, because because like
Speaker 1: you know, it happens, and then you think you're now
Speaker 1: god enough. You know. It's kind of like that. So
Speaker 1: when I was nige, I thought, I really don't have
Speaker 1: tenant and I thought I'm going to give up. Um.
Speaker 1: And then somehow why why, I mean, what was going
Speaker 1: on in your life? That happened? When I had I
Speaker 1: had a professor who did not like me, and then
Speaker 1: she fired me. Uh, and I thought, I'm so bad.
Speaker 1: I got fired human, you know, can't you imagine this? Really?
Speaker 1: And she told me that you you will never become
Speaker 1: a pianist. So yeah, yeah, so you call her before
Speaker 1: every concert? No, I I got ring out. No. I
Speaker 1: get so scared because every time when I'm making audition
Speaker 1: in the conservatory, she's sitting first roll because she's the professor,
Speaker 1: you know. So I had so many nightmares because of
Speaker 1: you know, her her encouragement. Um. Anyway, so but but
Speaker 1: then I am and then, uh, the first time I
Speaker 1: thought I'm pretty good. It's that I when I won
Speaker 1: the international competition at the age of twelve in Germany,
Speaker 1: and I thought, wow, I actually can play some good sound. Yeah. Um.
Speaker 1: And then and then I had a horrible time at
Speaker 1: school again, like I did not do well, and I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm not good enough. And then when I came to
Speaker 1: America in the beginning, I was so confident. In the
Speaker 1: first months, I'm like, wow, I'm pretty good. And then
Speaker 1: you know, there are many great students at Curtis. They
Speaker 1: play so well, uh, and I'm like, I'm not good enough.
Speaker 1: And then I have no concerts, you know, for for
Speaker 1: like three years almost because nobody have the confidence to
Speaker 1: take a fifteen year old boy, you know, to play
Speaker 1: Beethoven concertos or or Tchaikovsky. It's kind of like too young,
Speaker 1: you know. So I still remember my early days audition,
Speaker 1: you know, from Philadelphia taking the the Greyhound boss um
Speaker 1: like twelve dollar or something like yeah yeah, and then
Speaker 1: came to uh him to Times Square and then running
Speaker 1: into auditions, and then afterwards the conductors like yeah so um.
Speaker 1: So there was a audition for Milwauki Symphony. It's good, good,
Speaker 1: good orchestra. And the conductor look at me from some
Speaker 1: European country and you played really good, But how old
Speaker 1: are you? And I'm a fifteen Oh, maybe let's meat
Speaker 1: another ten years. So it did not go so well
Speaker 1: in the beginning. Now, there's a story that I read
Speaker 1: about you going to eat Lincoln and you go the
Speaker 1: German one like in twelve one. I was twelve right,
Speaker 1: and you go to a competition first international company for
Speaker 1: me yea. And when you go there, you went to
Speaker 1: a church, and I remember you prayed to Jesus when
Speaker 1: you were in this church. And I'm just wondering, and
Speaker 1: I want to phrase this question the right way, which
Speaker 1: is do you have without enumerating them, were discussing them
Speaker 1: if you don't want to specific religious beliefs or like
Speaker 1: many people that I've met in the classics, music itself
Speaker 1: your religion. I think certainly music is our religion. But
Speaker 1: I do believe, uh, there's some incredible power beyond us.
Speaker 1: You're getting inspired from somewhere, and this is not just
Speaker 1: about our wonderful friendship, but there's some someone is helping you,
Speaker 1: that's for sure. And also from the different part of
Speaker 1: my life. You know, there's a lot of time I
Speaker 1: thought I'm not gonna make it, but somehow I made it.
Speaker 1: Strength do you listen to any classical music? For me?
Speaker 1: I when I'm not performing, I like to listen to
Speaker 1: jazz because somehow you know, the the jazz and the
Speaker 1: jazz musicians are really really incredible. They can just you know,
Speaker 1: give anything and they make it into a beautiful work,
Speaker 1: especially on the people that I admire like Herbie Hancock
Speaker 1: and Chicorea, you know, those my great friends, and also
Speaker 1: learned so much from them. Um. And then the other
Speaker 1: aspect is to to listen to new music, you know,
Speaker 1: just fresh made, whether it's on top radio or like
Speaker 1: E d M. You know, just here movies TV. And
Speaker 1: it's also great um and uh and also um, I
Speaker 1: think listen to modern symphony or Brahms. Symphonies are always
Speaker 1: you know, always very inspiring. You always find something new.
Speaker 1: And somehow, when I was a kid, I did not
Speaker 1: really reflect those things into my life. You know, you
Speaker 1: kind of listen to it, you know it's beautiful. But
Speaker 1: now somehow what I'm especially you know, normally when you
Speaker 1: play with orchestra, the second half is the orchestra, right,
Speaker 1: so I always sit in and then when I listened
Speaker 1: to Mother or Problems, it's just somehow it's reflecting your life,
Speaker 1: the changes of the harmonies. Somehow, it's like it's it's
Speaker 1: so related to us. You're sort of thinking, oh, this
Speaker 1: is one point of my career. What happened is like,
Speaker 1: you know, the turning of the harmonies. What is it
Speaker 1: about this music that it touches people that way? What
Speaker 1: is your feeling? Right? Because in classical music, especially in
Speaker 1: the symphonic pieces, there's there have so many different layers,
Speaker 1: different layers, and those layers are you know, representing our
Speaker 1: emotion um our memories and and our kind of different
Speaker 1: aspect of culture um and people like Moller. He's the
Speaker 1: reason I think with love of his music so much
Speaker 1: is that because he's he has such a mixed of
Speaker 1: culture in his music, and it's somehow you know, every
Speaker 1: one of us is piece of that um and and
Speaker 1: also you know, class that's what classical music is for.
Speaker 1: It has a you know, it's a very long pieces,
Speaker 1: very long symphonies, and you know, it's it's very different
Speaker 1: when you if you see a film at five minutes
Speaker 1: and finishes, if it's a TV so twenty minutes, or
Speaker 1: it's a it's a movie for two hours, it's get
Speaker 1: you into a different stage of your heart, of your
Speaker 1: mind as well. And I think symphonies are like an opera,
Speaker 1: you know, they can really get in two very deep
Speaker 1: layers of your heart and of your senses. Um. And
Speaker 1: another thing is that once you're in the concert hall
Speaker 1: listening to those incredible work, is that everything else get blocked,
Speaker 1: everything else. So that's why your emotion becomes so pure,
Speaker 1: so genuine. You become who you are. And so that's
Speaker 1: why you know, we get tears in our eyes because
Speaker 1: we're so focused and we just let music take us
Speaker 1: to when we start, you know, our life, the first
Speaker 1: day of your memory. And I think that's ill. I
Speaker 1: was going to ask this question, but I'll just say
Speaker 1: this now, and that is that I was going to say,
Speaker 1: you grew up your whole childhood in China and then
Speaker 1: you've lived here and abroad for years, and I was
Speaker 1: going to ask you, what what have you learned that
Speaker 1: the Chinese people in the American people have in common?
Speaker 1: And I guess what I'm realizing is everywhere you go,
Speaker 1: what people have in common is this language of music
Speaker 1: and absol love of music. Like, for example, there are
Speaker 1: a lot of great augurs are coming to visit China,
Speaker 1: I mean, and most of those Chinese kids probably never
Speaker 1: heard of those countries before in their life. But when
Speaker 1: they start playing their music, we all how that we
Speaker 1: know each other. Um and this is the power, This
Speaker 1: is really the power. Please join me in thanking our
Speaker 1: very special guest, long long, Thank you, Long long. His
Speaker 1: most recent album of pieces normally reserved for young learners
Speaker 1: is called Piano Book. The accompanying hardcover has all the
Speaker 1: sheet music, plus his notes on why each piece meant
Speaker 1: so much to him. But up, I'm Alec Baldwin and
Speaker 1: you're listening to here's the Thing.