The concerto is based on Xian Xinghai's nationalistic Yellow River Cantata (1939) and was arranged for piano and orchestra by Yin Chengzong at the end of the Culutral Revolution in 1969.
A student of d'Indy and Dukas during his twenties, Xian (1905-45) later studied in Moscow like many other Chinese composers. His works are populist and usually incorporate folk melodies, his harmonic language highly western despite attempts to develop a more authentic Chinese style.
Lang Lang, who is a major star in China, is a central figure at this year's Beijing Music Festival, performing ten different piano concertos over the course of the five-week event. The festival closes on October 26 with a gala featuring Lang Lang playing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with conductor Christoph Eschenbach and the Orchestre de Paris.