Lang Lang still on top

Lang Lang has played in some of the world's most celebrated venues, like London's Royal Albert Hall. His two recitals at the venue were recorded in a DVD recently released by Sony Music. [Photo Provided to China Daily]

Sony Music also released a DVD, a recording of two recitals he gave in November 2013 at London's Royal Albert Hall, as a gift to his fans in China.

The tickets to the shows sold out within 48 hours. The pianist played a two-part program of Mozart and Chopin as well as eight encores.

"Sitting in the middle of the venue, I felt like a boxer or a gladiator with the audience surrounding me, standing up, waving their hands and cheering," he recalls, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

So far, the pianist has performed at the Royal Albert Hall 18 times since he made an acclaimed BBC Proms debut there. A music critic for the British newspaper The Times wrote: "Lang Lang took a sold-out Royal Albert Hall by storm. This could well be history in the making."

On April 20 and 22 this year, the pianist performed at the venue again and debuted a piece of his own, entitled Lang Lang Waltz, which he wrote at age 15. He composed the work soon after he studied in the United States in 1997, and it reflects the influence that period had on his music.

"I like recording beautiful tunes in my phone when I practice. Maybe one day, that material will turn into my compositions," he says.

"I get inspired when I travel, such as the glittering lake of Switzerland and the cities I have never been to," he adds, mentioning one performance that he looks forward to is the Changbai Mountain Forest Music Festival in Jilin province.

Running through August this year, the festival will see the pianist perform amid mountains, rivers and a waterfall on Aug 28.

Before that, Lang Lang will fly to Paris and record a new album at Versailles, which will be released in October this year. The album will feature works including the full performance of Tchaikovsky's Seasons, from January through December, and Chopin's four scherzos.

"No pianist ever performed in the Palace of Versailles. I like doing something which has never been done before," he says.

For the pianist, who has an ever-ready smile and cheerful energy in public, the pressure is always high.

Lang Lang began playing the piano at age 3 and moved from his hometown, Shenyang, Liaoning province, to Beijing to pursue his music study accompanied by his father, Lang Guoren, who is known as a typical "tiger parent".

In 1997, he went on to study in the US, where he met his mentor Gary Graffman at Curtis Institute of Music. He had his breakthrough at age 17 when he was called to replace Andre Watts and performed Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No 1 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.