Lang Lang: Classical for Kids

“This playlist is for kids’ classical music education,” the superstar pianist Lang Lang tells Apple Music. “I want them to have a wonderful early start.” Lang Lang’s playlist features “kid-friendly” pieces performed by artists including Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim, Lang Lang’s wife and fellow pianist Gina Alice Redlinger, Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Miloš Karadaglić. Naturally, Lang Lang features too, with repertoire spanning the musical spectrum, from Beethoven’s Für Elise and Schumann’s Traumerei to “Jupiter” from Holst’s The Planets and “Feed the Birds” from Mary Poppins. Classical For Kids also contains tracks that chime with Lang Lang’s own life. “When you wish upon a star”, sung by Gina Alice, was specially arranged for voice and piano with the couple’s son Winston in mind. “This is a gift to him and to newborn babies everywhere. It has special meaning for me,” he says. So, too, does the theme from Mozart’s Variations on “Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman”, otherwise known as “Twinkle, twinkle, little star”, which the five-year-old Lang Lang played in his first concert, and Brahms’ “Lullaby”, recorded by Gina Alice while she was pregnant. “This is the best piece for pregnancy, to calm you and your child quietly in the moment.” Dive in for a playlist that will delight children and, of course, the adults in their lives too.