Monday 30 July 2012

Beijing Symphony Orchestra in London

The Beijing Symphony Orchestra gave a great London debut concert at the Royal Festival Hall last night, collaborating with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The gala concert was part of the Olympic celebrations, passing the musical baton from Beijing to London. I decided to go, not because they would be performing Beethoven's 9th Symphony, but because the programme showcased worked by contemporary Chinese composers Guo Wenjing and Tang Jianping. I've always had a slight prejudice against Chinese music, finding it predictable with it's pentatonic modes, which are pretty much impossible to wriggle out of, but Guo Wenjing, Tang Jianping, and the BSO have proved me wrong, and I'm happy they did.

Guo Wenjing's 'Overture, Lotus' was colourful and engaging from the beginning. Born in Chong Qing, and trained at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, Guo Wenjing has stayed in his home country unlike his other classmates such as Tan Dun, Chen Yi and Zhou Long. Although he has spent little time outside of China, you can hear Guo's awareness of Western-styles with his Messiaen-like harmonies, and Stravinsky-esque rhythms. Some parts of the piece, usually the calm or emotional sections sounded significantly like Chinese film music, which I was not a fan of, and reminded me of the musical clichés that I had always wanted to avoid with Chinese music, but Guo would always come to the rescue, and swoop in with a rich chord or a distant melody to offset the harmonic balance.

As for Tang Jianping's 'Sacred Fire 2008'. Wow. It's a concerto for percussion and orchestra and a lot of credit goes to award-winning percussionist Li Biao, who's boundless energy and poise contributed significantly to this labour-intensive piece of music. Shining a spotlight on drum kit, vibraphone and marimba, Tang Jianping's piece started off with a bang, and continued to do so for most of the 20 minutes. The concerto was exciting, not doubt about that, but in turn, there was hardly room to breathe, and hardly any room left for the ending to climax even more. During the calmer sections when the percussionist would turn his attention to the vibraphone, fifths were the main dish of the day, in fact we had fifths for starter, mains and dessert. I was sitting there begging for Tang to do the same as Guo - swoop in and rescue it, but it continued, and in turn I was disappointed. Luckily, the piece picked up its pace again, finally, and Li Biao could one more display his incredible technique and power. Unfortunately, Tang's pacing was a bit off, and left no room for the ending to climax even more. The piece was too full-on most of the time, and ran out of steam near the end. Still, it's one of those pieces that make a big impact either way, and perhaps being full-on is your biggest bet.

Beethoven 9 was pretty much perfect. It's hard to review a symphony that's been regurgitated in every single concert hall, by every single orchestra, under any conductor's baton. For two orchestras to collaborate, and I assume, with hardly any rehearsal time before the concert (as is usually the case), the performance was pretty polished, but at times communication was sloppy, and worse of all, the alto soloist in the last movement was weak, dominated by the bariton, tenor and soprano who were all brilliant singers. What a waste. At the end of the day though, Beethoven never fails to move anyone. I'm sure people in the audience still cried, and if not, at least a standing ovation was given.

The attendance was surprisingly full from the beginning, and I assumed most (like my friend who came with me) came for the Beethoven, not for the 1st half. However, this concert has been an eye (or ear) opener for a lot of members in the audience, showing that after a big hit from the Cultural Revolution, China is finally back on its feet (well it has been for a while), producing better music, oh, and proving me wrong! 

Percussionist: Li Biao


Conductor: Tan Lihua with BSO+LPO players

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