Lang Lang’s Modern Encores: Blue Bird, the Track List and Piano Scores

Lang Lang's Modern Encores brings a Naruto song, an Interstellar cue and contemporary piano music into the same short release. For listeners who want to play something from it, the next step is less obvious than typing the album title into a sheet-music shop. A familiar title can lead to a different arrangement, and the existing Piano Book 2 collection belongs to the earlier album.

What is arriving on 9 October?

Deutsche Grammophon lists Modern Encores as a digital EP within the Piano Book 2 project. It is a separate five-track release, rather than a renamed edition of the full 2025 album. The 18 September announcement dates the first single to that day and schedules Cornfield Chase alongside the complete EP on 9 October.

The public player below provides the available Blue Bird preview. Full playback may depend on your account and region. If you only want to hear the single, there is no need to buy a book or choose a notation app first.

Open Blue Bird on Spotify or view the forthcoming EP on Apple Music.

Keep the release subtitle attached when saving a recording or sending it to a teacher. “Lang Lang, Piano Book 2” now points to several related releases. The subtitle and performer credits are useful parts of the musical reference, especially when two recordings share a track name.

The five works and their edition questions

Here is the announced sequence, with the detail to carry into a score search. Composer and arrangement credits below follow the release announcement; score findings come from the linked publishers and exact-edition listings.

1. 01
   Blue BirdYoshiki Mizuno · from Naruto · piano arrangement credited to Telleria
2. 02
   Cornfield ChaseHans Zimmer · from Interstellar · several separate piano editions are on sale
3. 03
   ICARUSTony Ann · a new solo recording, distinct from the earlier Lang Lang/Ann duet
4. 04
   Sleeping LotusJoep Beving · an existing piano-solo score is available
5. 05
   My Favorite ThingsRichard Rodgers · piano arrangement credited to Hamilton

Blue Bird: keep the arranger in the search

For this recording, the useful identifier is Mizuno, Blue Bird, arranged by Telleria. A page headed simply “Blue Bird piano” does not establish the same arrangement. It might supply a shorter teaching version, a different pianist's transcription or a score with another accompaniment.

The earlier book offers a particularly easy wrong turn. Its published retailer contents list for ISBN 9780571543502 includes Sadness and Sorrow from Naruto, not Blue Bird. A Naruto connection on the cover description therefore does not settle the question.

We did not verify an authorised published score for this exact Telleria arrangement in the catalogues checked for this guide. If matching Lang Lang's recording is your priority, ask a music retailer or publisher for that specific credit before paying. If your aim is simply to play the song, another clearly identified arrangement may be entirely suitable; keep its own demonstration recording with it.

Cornfield Chase: the title already has several piano editions

Hal Leonard’s catalogue search distinguishes an Easy Piano edition, HL 1000409337, a Piano Solo edition, HL 1000387726, and Phillip Keveren's arrangement, HL 1000571317. These are useful starting points for learning the work, but none of those identifiers alone establishes a match to the forthcoming Lang Lang recording.

This is where a sample page earns its place. Look at how the repeating material is distributed between the hands, how the melody is carried and what happens as the texture becomes fuller. You are choosing the written piano part you will practise. A publisher's “Easy Piano” label can help narrow the search, but the passage that concerns you should still be visible in the sample or clarified by the seller.

When comparing recordings later, do not treat a difference in accompaniment as your playing error until you have checked the edition. A piano reduction makes choices about which sounds to retain. Another reduction can make different choices while remaining an arrangement of the same film cue.

ICARUS: solo and duet are separate projects

This is the clearest version change in the announcement. The earlier recording pairs Lang Lang with Tony Ann; the EP introduces a solo version. The distinction affects the number of players, the score you need and the recording you use as a reference. The worked check below compares three real entries rather than assuming that “ICARUS” names a single piano text.

Sleeping Lotus: a score for the work is easier to identify

Faber sells Joep Beving’s Sleeping Lotus as a five-page piano-solo download in E-flat. The publisher labels it intermediate. Its listing showed £3.50 and availability in Europe when checked on 30 September; that is a regional publisher price, not a worldwide offer or an Amazon price.

That identifies a concrete edition of the composition. It does not establish that every detail of the new performance will follow the print literally, or that the download is marketed as a transcription of Lang Lang's recording. Use the publisher sample to decide whether the writing suits you, and keep the work's composer attached to the title when looking for another authorised regional seller.

There is no reason to wait for a celebrity-branded collection if this existing edition is the piece you want to learn. Equally, there is no need to replace a copy you already own just because another pianist has recorded the work.

My Favorite Things: check the arrangement, not just the musical

My Favorite Things comes from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music. The EP credits Hamilton for its piano arrangement. A vocal score, lead sheet and self-contained piano solo can all carry the same song title while giving the pianist different material.

We did not verify an authorised score specifically identified as the Hamilton arrangement for this release. A generic songbook should therefore not be presented as its matching score. If you are comparing other editions, check whether the piano part contains the melody or expects a singer to supply it. Our post on lead sheets and piano arrangements explains those formats in more detail.

A worked edition check: three different ICARUS references

Suppose you want a solo piece after seeing the new EP announcement. You find a score called ICARUS, plus the earlier Piano Book 2 collection. Before choosing either, write down the performer and format of the version that prompted the search.

The following map separates the composition from three resources connected to it. The branches are alternatives to identify, not successive editions you need to purchase.

First, the label’s October 2025 notice expressly identifies the Lang Lang/Ann recording as piano four hands. That calls for two players at one piano. Taking one player's part on its own does not automatically produce a complete solo arrangement.

Second, Musicnotes MN0283420 is a five-page solo in C minor. Its Signature Artist description associates the edition with Tony Ann's original recording, and the arrangement credit names Ann. That is positive evidence for a particular solo resource, but it says nothing about a later pianist's new recorded version.

Third, the Modern Encores announcement describes a new Lang Lang solo. The word “solo” now agrees with your requirement for one player, yet that still leaves the edition question open. Two solo arrangements can distribute notes differently, include different introductions or use different endings. No product we checked explicitly closed that final match.

There is one more practical check before a digital purchase. The Musicnotes listing includes one authorised print and an interactive app copy; a high-resolution PDF is an additional option. An app-accessible score and an independent PDF are different deliverables. Decide whether you need paper, the seller's app or a file for another reader before checking out. Do not assume a subscription, a recording purchase or a book purchase supplies all three.

What the existing Piano Book 2 book contains

Faber’s printed Piano Book 2 is a 144-page collection of 30 pieces from the earlier album. Its ISBN is 9780571543502, also confirmed by Alfred’s distribution listing. Those identifiers are more reliable than a shop's shortened heading or a thumbnail of a blue cover.

Comparing the five EP titles with the book’s 30-entry contents listing gives a specific result: ICARUS is present as a four-hands item; Blue Bird, Cornfield Chase, Sleeping Lotus and My Favorite Things are not listed. We would not buy this collection to obtain the five new EP arrangements.

The book may still be appealing for its own repertoire. That is a separate decision. Its publisher's broad Piano Solo category should not make you overlook the four-hands exception within the contents. When ordering a mixed collection, inspect the particular piece you want as well as the category attached to the whole book.

A similarly named DG two-CD Score Edition is another separate product. Its description supplies access to digital scores and tutorial videos through an NFC-enabled package. It covers 30 of the earlier album's 32 pieces, excluding Lovers’ Oath and To Zanarkand. It is not the same purchase as Faber's printed book, and its description does not promise a score supplement for Modern Encores.

Keep one exact reference with the piece you choose

Once you have selected a version, a short resource note saves repeating this search. Here is a filled example for the published Tony Ann solo. It records what has actually been identified rather than borrowing the new EP's performer name.

Composition

ICARUS · Tony Ann

Version wanted

Tony Ann original solo

Score identifier

Musicnotes MN0283420 · five pages · C minor

Reference to retain

The demonstration linked to that edition, plus your purchase record

Not established

A match to Lang Lang's forthcoming solo recording

For a different piece, replace all of those fields together. Saving only the title recreates the ambiguity. This matters when a teacher assigns a passage, when a duet partner buys a copy, or when you reopen the piece months later and cannot remember why the recording and page differ.

Once the correct edition is settled, listening can become more useful than checking whether every sound has a printed counterpart. Our post on learning from recordings considers how to use a performance as a reference without treating it as an instruction to imitate everything.

For now, Blue Bird provides the entry point to the new release. If it sends you looking for a score, take the arranger credit with you. The full EP's arrival on 9 October will give you four more recordings to identify before choosing what to put on the music stand.