Friday, October 18, 2013

Carnegie Hall: Beijing Symphony Orchestra

I went yesterday evening to hear the Beijing Symphony Orchestra more out of curiosity than for any other reason.  Tickets were readily available at steep discounts; I picked mine up for only $2.  This performance was not produced by Carnegie Hall and was not part of its regular series of concerts but was instead  labeled an "Attila Glatz Production."  Apparently, the orchestra itself rented the hall for the evening in an attempt to impress America with China's new found cultural prowess.  An article in the Wall Street Journal quoted Jindong Cai, the orchestra director at Stanford who will conduct the Beijing Symphony next season:
“China wants to export its culture to the world.  Part of this is the economic boom, so the government has more money. And in China, leaders are not just political figures, but they want to be viewed as cultural ones as well.”
The first half consisted of two pieces by Guo Wenjing entitled Lotus Overture and Chou Kong Shan.  The latter piece, translated as Sorrowful Desolate Mountain, was actually a concerto for bamboo flute (dizi).  The soloist was Tang Jun Qiao who displayed a remarkable mastery of the instrument. Hearing these two pieces was actually the part of the concert I enjoyed most as it gave me the rare opportunity to hear Chinese music written for orchestra.  The music itself was hard to define.  It seemed impressionist in some parts but always retained a distinctly Asian character.

The second half of the program, excerpts from Suites 1 and 2 of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64, was a distinct disappointment.  Even beforehand I had thought Prokofiev a curious choice for an Asian orchestra making its New York debut and had wondered how well the composer's sense of irony would translate.  Although the playing was meticulous and technically flawless, the orchestra seemed to have no feel for the music.  It was as though they were simply playing notes one after the other.

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