Saturday 14 November 2026
Pianist Lang Lang has recorded all five Beethoven piano concertos for the first time, with Andris Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester. Deutsche Grammophon releases Beethoven · The Piano Concertos on 5 March 2027, a few weeks before the 200th anniversary of the composer’s death on 26 March. Lang Lang will also tour the concertos around the world, with London among the stops in both March and May/June 2027. Here’s what you need to know.
1. A long-held dream, timed for the Beethoven bicentenary
Lang Lang began learning Beethoven’s concertos as a teenager and added them to his concert repertoire early in his career. He recorded Nos. 1 and 4 for DG two decades ago and has performed all five live many times since. He has also discussed Beethoven’s music in depth with Christoph Eschenbach, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Daniel Barenboim. With a bicentenary tour planned, he felt the time was right for a full cycle. “You need to be more mature, to have more experience of life,” he says, “to understand Beethoven’s music more clearly.” The album is a key part of DG’s plans to mark 200 years since Beethoven died in 1827.
2. An orchestra with links to Beethoven himself
The Gewandhausorchester’s close connection with Beethoven’s music goes back to the composer’s own lifetime, and Lang Lang is full of praise for the Leipzig orchestra and its conductor. “The Gewandhausorchester have preserved their unique Beethoven sound, which I love, but they’re so open to new ideas,” he says. “And Andris gave me everything: his knowledge, his love, his passion, his great friendship.” Nelsons is just as warm: “The Gewandhausorchester’s rich, colourful and energetic sound combined so beautifully with Lang Lang’s technical brilliance and musical warmth and imagination.” He describes recording together as “a harmonious and exciting process”.
3. Hear the ‘Emperor’ in analogue and digital
Piano Concerto No. 5, the “Emperor”, was recorded with both digital and analogue technology. A limited-edition Pure Analogue (AAA) vinyl LP comes with the digital version on CD, so listeners can compare the same performance in two formats. For the analogue version, sound engineer Rainer Maillard of Emil Berliner Studios used just seven microphones and vintage Siemens V72 tube preamplifiers, recording straight to magnetic tape. It was then edited the old-fashioned way, with scissors and adhesive tape. “With digital technology, you feel more vibration, more colours, a greater dynamic range,” says Lang Lang. “But analogue gives you greater directness and perhaps a richer sound.”
4. Solo pieces with a personal story
The album also has three solo performances. Lang Lang played Beethoven’s penultimate piano sonata, Op. 110 in A flat major, when he auditioned for the Curtis Institute of Music, so it holds a special place in his musical history. He has also recorded two transcriptions. One is the Allegretto from Symphony No. 7, a particular favourite of his, arranged by Asiya Korepanova. The other is the “Ode to Joy” from Symphony No. 9, arranged by Peter Schindler. The set comes out digitally, on 3 CDs and as a limited 5-LP vinyl edition, and some collector’s editions include art cards signed by Lang Lang.
5. Previews, a concert film and London concerts
You can already stream the slow movement of the “Emperor”, with a performance video. Next come the “Ode to Joy” transcription on 11 December, the opening movement of Piano Sonata No. 31 on 15 January 2027, and the finale of Concerto No. 3, with another video, on 12 February. A concert film of Concertos Nos. 3 and 5, recorded in Leipzig, and a short YouTube documentary will follow at a later date. On stage, Lang Lang plays Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 with Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Boston, London, Hamburg and Paris in March. He then plays Nos. 3–5 with the Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig in May, before going on to Riga, Paris, London, Bonn, Hamburg, Essen and Düsseldorf.
Listen
Beethoven · The Piano Concertos – Lang Lang, Gewandhausorchester, Andris Nelsons
Released Friday 5 March 2027 on Deutsche Grammophon
Formats: digital, 3-CD set, limited 5-LP vinyl set, limited AAA LP of Concerto No. 5 “Emperor”
Streaming previews: “Emperor” slow movement (out now), “Ode to Joy” (11 December), Sonata No. 31 first movement (15 January 2027), Concerto No. 3 finale (12 February 2027)
London concerts: March 2027 (Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra) and May/June 2027 (Concertos Nos. 3–5 with the Gewandhausorchester)