Pianist Lang Lang performs "One" with Metallica at the 56th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California January 26, 2014.[Photo/Agencies]

Exclusive interview with Lang Lang and Lars Ulrich

Pathfinder pianist

According to Ulrich, Peter Mensch, Metallica's manager, came up with the idea of partnering with the pianist. He says that in the past few years, the Grammys have done many "mashups", bringing artists from different genres and different backgrounds together to make an exciting collaboration. Four months ago, when the Grammys approached Metallica, the cooperation with Lang was the first and only idea offered by Mensch.

Metallica, nine-time Grammy Award winners, are no strangers to classical music. In 1999, they recorded a live album with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.

Ulrich says Metallica is in the middle of writing music right now and "the song writes itself".

"The worst thing in music, which I always share, in both of our worlds, classical and rock, is when anything sounds forced and when you are trying to make something happen," he says. "When our collaboration started, it felt right."

For the band, the collaboration with the pianist continues its relationship with China after their two sold-out shows in Shanghai last August.

According to AEG Live Asia, the promoter of Metallica's shows in China, 10,000 tickets sold out in a few minutes, prompting them to add another concert the next day.

Since the Grammy Awards broadcast was aired on TV in Shanghai and radio in Beijing, their performance has caused a stir among Chinese fans.

"I watched the Grammy Awards just because of their collaboration," says Wang Guan, a 31-year-old Metallica fan from Beijing.

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