Lang Lang's Guide To Classical Music

Whether You Love R&B, Hip Hop Or Country, Lang Lang Has A Composer For You

Want to learn more about classical music but don't know where to begin? Grammy-nominated classical piano phenom Lang Lang believes that everyone can enjoy the music of the great masters, so he sat down with The ShowBuzz to help prepare a guide for the novice listener.

Classical and contemporary composers have borrowed from each other's styles for centuries.

Anton Dvorak and Franz Schubert borrowed from the folk music of their countries, while Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Prokofiev were heavily influenced by jazz.

Artists as diverse as Green Day, Barry Manilow, Snoop Dogg and Alicia Keys have used works by Pachelbel, Chopin, Bach, and Brahms in their music.

So whether you're a hard-core rocker or a serious hip-hop fan, there's a good chance you'll enjoy the composers that have inspired your favorite artists.

Lang Lang is nominated for best instrumental soloist performance with orchestra for "Beethoven: Concertos Nos. 1 & 4." He will be performing with fellow Grammy nominee Herbie Hancock at the awards ceremony, airing on CBS Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008.

Lang Lang: "If you like hip hop, then you will like Bartok, and I think you will like Rachmaninoff's 3rd Piano Concerto because it's got incredible rhythm and power."

Béla Bartók

Born: March 25, 1881 in Sînnicolau Mare, Hungary

Died: September 26, 1945

Bartok is considered to be one of the greatest composers of the 20th Century. He also pioneered the study of music and cultures known as ethnomusicology.

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Born: April 1st, 1873 in Novgorod Russia

Died: March 28th, 1943

Rachmaninoff was a renowned concert pianist as well as a noted composer in the Romantic style. His most famous works include the "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" and "Prelude in C Minor."

Lang Lang: "You will like some of the Tchaikovsky symphonies, you will like Liszt, of course! You will certainly like Liszt, because (he) was the rock star of that time. Some of the Liszt etudes and piano concertos, (as well as) the Hungarian dances and the 'Hungarian Rhapsody.'"

Franz Liszt

Born: October 22, 1811 in Sopron, Hungary

Died: July 31, 1886

An exceptionally talented and innovative pianist and composer, Liszt is well-known for his colorful and often complicated works for piano. His private life was just as colorful, and there was no shortage of 19th century groupies fawning over the handsome virtuoso.

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Born: May 7, 1840

Died: November 6, 1893

Tchaikovsky wrote several well-known compositions, including the music for the "Nutcracker Suite" and his "Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor."

(Photo: AP)

Lang Lang: "You will like Chopin, Mozart, and Schumann, because they are very lyrical in a way, very romantic, and quite dramatic."

Frederic Chopin

Born: March 1, 1810 in Zelazowa Wola, Poland

Died: October 17, 1849.

A concert pianist and teacher, Chopin composed numerous works for the piano including the famous "Minute Waltz." Chopin's "Prelude in C Minor" is heard in the pop song "Could It Be Magic" by Barry Manilow.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Born: January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria

Died: December 5, 1791

Mozart was a prolific composer who wrote his first piece at the tender age of five. His numerous works include sacred music, symphonies, chamber music and concerti. He also wrote songs, dances, and comic operas, all of which could be considered the pop music of his day.

Robert Schumann

Born: June 8, 1810, Zwickau, Germany

Died: July 29, 1856

An early 19th Century Romantic composer, Schumann wrote song cycles, concertos and symphonies, and numerous works for solo piano.

(Photo: AP)

Lang Lang: "Some of the Bach, like 'Goldberg Variations;' Dvorak from the 'New World Symphony,' and you may like Schubert. For me it fits with country music, because it's kind of folk art, and Schubert has this Austrian style and Dvorak has a typical Czech."

Johann Sebastian Bach

Born: March 21, 1685 in Eisenach, Germany

Died: July 28, 1750 in Leipzig, Germany

Johann Sebastian Bach is considered one of the greatest European composers in history. His vast output of work influenced generations of composers and musicians that followed him. The 'Goldberg Variations' that Lang Lang mentions are a set of cheerful tunes written to sooth a wealthy insomniac count. Goldberg was the name of the count's harpsichordist.

Antonin Dvorak

Born: Prague, September 8th 1841

Died: May 1, 1904

Dvorak was influenced by the folk music of his country, as well as the American folk music and African-American spirituals he fell in love with during a three year stay in the United States. He accepted a position as head of the National Conservatory of Music in New York in 1892, under the condition that scholarships would be given to Native American and African-American students.

Franz Schubert

Born: January 31, 1797 in Vienna, Austria

Died: November 19, 1828

Schubert managed to compose a huge amount of work in his relatively short life, including over 100 songs before he was 20. His most famous work was the "Symphony Number 8 in B Minor," better known as the "Unfinished" Symphony. He was only able to complete the first two of the symphony's planned three movements before he became ill from syphilis.

(Photo: AP)

Lang Lang: "Gershwin, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, they all write something like jazz: the rhythm, and also the feeling of freedom that jazz gives you. They are incredibly free and you just follow the atmosphere."

George Gershwin

Born:September 26, 1898 in New York, NY

Died:July 11, 1937

With his brother, Ira Gershwin, penning the lyrics, George Gershwin wrote numerous show tunes that became jazz standards such as "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off" and "Love Is Here To Stay." He's also considered one of America's greatest classical composers for his jazz-influenced orchestral works such as "Rhapsody in Blue" and the opera "Porgy and Bess."

Igor Stravinsky

Born:June 17, 1882 in Orianebaum, Russia

Died:April 6, 1971 in New York, NY

In 1913, Stravinsky's intense, almost violent, score for the controversial ballet "The Rite of Spring" caused such a furor in the audience that a riot broke out before intermission. By 1929, the work was hailed as a masterpiece by The New York Times, and by 1940 Disney used it as the soundtrack for the dinosaur sequence in "Fantasia" (much to Stravinsky's chagrin.) Stravinsky's music was influenced by the syncopated rhythms of jazz.

Sergei Prokofiev

Born: April 23, 1891 in Sontsovka, Russia

Died: March 5, 1953

Prokofiev began composing at the age of 5. He is best known for scoring the music for the ballet "Romeo and Juliet," and for writing the narration and music for the children's classic "Peter and the Wolf."

(Photo: AP)

Lang Lang: "Maybe the Mozart operas because somehow Mozart approaches an aria like an R&B ballad, singing and speaking at the same time."

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Born: January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria
Died: December 5, 1791
Mozart was a prolific composer who wrote his first piece at the tender age of five. His numerous works include sacred music, symphonies, chamber music and concerti. He also wrote songs, dances, and comic operas, all of which could be considered the pop music of his day.

(Photo: AP)