A Whole New World

The main theme from Aladdin — one of Alan Menken's most beloved melodies — arrives in Lang Lang's hands with a sense of wonder that matches the song's original aspiration. The opening is built on a sense of suspension and release, the melody floating above an accompaniment that suggests the movement of a flying carpet more than any literal musical representation could. Lang Lang explores the arabesque melodic contours that give the song its Middle Eastern flavor, the ornamental turns in the original arrangement here realized through piano technique rather than woodwind color. The duet structure of the original vocal — Aladdin and Jasmine sharing the melody in alternating phrases — becomes in the solo piano version a dialogue between registers, the right hand taking the lead while the left provides both harmonic support and occasional melodic response. There is a hopefulness in the song's construction that resists irony; it wants sincerely to evoke the experience of transcendence, of escape from circumstance through love and adventure. Lang Lang meets that sincerity without condescension, playing the melody with the same conviction he might bring to a Chopin nocturne — the materials are different but the emotional commitment is genuine. Best heard on a summer evening when the mind is willing to travel somewhere impractical and beautiful.