In celebration of 100 years of The Walt Disney Company, globally acclaimed piano virtuoso Lang Lang releases his latest album, The Disney Book, inviting fans of all ages to enjoy classical music through his unique interpretations. The Disney Book features reimagined, joyous new versions of some of the most famous melodies in the history of animation, especially written for Lang Lang by the world’s leading arrangers...

Lang Lang's The Disney Book comes in a standard and deluxe 2-disc edition. If you're going to invest in a celebration of Disney's 100 years I think the deluxe edition is the way to go. Who would want to miss out on any of Lang's interpretations?

There are some issues here, but many of these can also be seen as strengths depending on your point of view. For starters there are 27 songs here (1 hr, 35 min, 39 sec) with many glaring omissions. While, of course there are songs from some of the older movies, it's mainly more recent films that are featured here. Plus some movies have two or more tracks dedicated to them.

I have to admit that it took me a while to warm to quite a few of the reworkings, mainly because we all know the originals so well. But, once I got over that, I could start to appreciate each track for the original angle it took.

This is all good though. It's not a catalogue of Disney movies, it's highlights of Lang's favourite songs. The beauty of the release is that some pieces are presented as piano reworkings whilst others bring in a full orchestra and this helps keep everything sounding fresh and interesting. There are more than enough solo piano albums of Disney music on the market and by bringing in the orchestra Lang helps to elevate the album to more of an event than a mere album of greatest hits performed on piano.

Track listing:

Disc 1
01. Beauty and the Beast
02. It's a Small World
03. Frozen - Let It Go
04. The Jungle Book - The Bare Necessities
05. Encanto - Dos Oruguitas
06. The Muppet Movie - Rainbow Connection
07. Mulan - Reflection
08. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Someday My Prince Will Come
09. Soul - It's All Right
10. Encanto - We Don't Talk About Bruno
11. Coco - Remember Me
12. Pinocchio - When You Wish Upon a Star
13. Aladdin - A Whole New World
14. Tarzan - You'll Be in My Heart

Disc 2
01. Beauty and the Beast
02. Mary Poppins - Fantasy
03. Mary Poppins - Feed the Birds
04. Three Little Pigs - Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
05. Frozen - Do You Want to Build a Snowman?
06. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Whistle While You Work
07. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Bluddle-Uddle-Um-Dum (The Dwarf's Washing Song)
08. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - I'm Wishing
09. Cinderella - A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes
10. The Jungle Book - My Own Home
11. Cars - Life Is a Highway
12. Dumbo - Baby Mine
13. The Lion King - Can You Feel the Love Tonight?

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Darren Rea