One of the benefits of ushering is that sometimes you get to be in the theater during the sound check. Before his concert tonight, Lang Lang just played around on the piano for about 45 minutes and just for the 15 or so ushers in the theater. We were all rapt as he went through the Bach Italian Concerto, a Chopin Schertzo and some stuff that he's apparently working on, because he had the scores handy. He played so long that they were afraid he was going to miss the 7:30 start time.
But he disappeared into the wings, changed clothes and came out and played 2.5 hours of incredible music. He changed the way he played the Bach. In the sound check, the andante movement was faster, almost playful. In concert, it was very studied and deliberate.