"I made this album because I wanted to pay
homage to the city that I love," says Lang Lang of New York Rhapsody.
"This city has changed the course of music more than any other in the last
hundred years. It has inspired and enriched me beyond words and has become my
home away from home."
New York City feels similarly about Lang Lang. They
just named Lang Lang the city's first ever NYC Cultural Tourism ambassador.
This is in partnership with NYC and Company in celebration of this year's
official "China-U.S. Tourism Year" as designated by Chinese President
Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama.
For New York Rhapsody, Lang Lang joined forces with
Grammy-winning producer Larry Klein to create an album that embraces the
musical spirit of New York in ways both surprising and traditional. Inspired by
E.B. White's celebrated essay "Here Is New York," Klein assembled
musical ideas and energies that both reflect New York's past and evoke its
dynamic present.
The centerpiece of the album is a performance of
Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue featuring Lang Lang and multiple Grammy-winning
jazz legend, Herbie Hancock in a two-piano version conducted by John Axelrod
with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Surrounding it on New York Rhapsody are creative
collaborations that reimagine songs reflecting the varying moods and
experiences New York offers.
Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, Jason Isbell gives
a fresh edge to Elbow's evocative "New York Morning" and
Grammy-nominated R&B singer Andra Day adds a new dimension to the Jay-Z and
Alicia Keys' hit "Empire State of Mind." Kandace Springs gives a new
treatment to Don Henley's moody "New York Minute." Singer Madeleine
Peyroux recaptures the alone-in-the-city wistfulness of "Moon River,"
the Henry Mancini/Johnny Mercer classic from the essential New York movie
Breakfast at Tiffany's.
In one of the album's boldest choices, co-arrangers
Klein and Grammy-winner Billy Childs marry the Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim
song "Somewhere" from West Side Story with Lou Reed's "Dirty
Blvd" from his classic album New York. Lisa Fischer's vocal in the
yearning "Somewhere" is a powerful contrast to actor Jeffrey Wright's
interpretation of Lou Reed's indelible words in "Dirty Blvd."
Next, Lang Lang is joined by violinist Lindsey
Stirling on a spinning version of Danny Elfman's theme for Spider-Man; and then
by trumpeter Sean Jones on the West Side Story classic "Tonight" by
Leonard Bernstein.
Bookending New York Rhapsody are perhaps surprising
choices - quiet, contemplative pieces by New York's greatest musical poet,
Aaron Copland. To open, Lang Lang and Klein chose "The Story of Our
Town," from Copland's 1940 Our Town film score, to evoke the dozens of
small "towns" within the big city. To close, one of Copland's last
works, the rarely heard "In Evening Air," reminds us says Klein,
"there are always pockets of peace and quiet beauty" in New York.
Tracklisting
1. Story of Our Town
2. New York Morning - feat. Jason Isbell
3. Empire State Of Mind - feat. Andra Day
4. Rhapsody in Blue - feat. Herbie Hancock
5. New York Minute - feat. Kandace Springs
6. Somewhere (Dirty Blvd) - feat. Lisa Fischer /
Jeffrey Wright
7. Spider-Man Theme - feat. Lindsey Stirling
8. Tonight - feat. Sean Jones
9. Moon River - feat. Madeleine Peyroux
10. In Evening Air
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