The Lunar New Year signifies renewal and hope, in which family members join together to celebrate a fresh beginning. 2017 is the year of the Fire Rooster; for those seeking something different and new from a usual classical concert, the MSO ensured the new year is off to an auspicious start.
While glimpses of the tradition can be seen in the lion dance performances and the sea of red decorations around the streets of Melbourne, the MSO elevated the cultural experience with their “East Meets West” themed Chinese New Year Concert – an annual event since 2014.
Internationally renowned composer and conductor Tan Dun delivered another unique and refreshing concert with the following program:
Manuel de Falla El Amor Brujo: Ritual Fire Dance
Guan Xia Suona Concerto: 100 Birds Flying Towards the Phoenix (World premiere)
Tan Dun Concerto for Piano, Peking Opera Soprano and Orchestra Farewell My Concubine (Australian premiere)
Tan Weiwei / Tan Dun Vocal Concerto: Song Lines of China
Igor Stravinsky The Firebird: Suite
This review commences with Tan Dun’s concerto Farewell My Concubine, (as the first two performances were disappointingly missed due to an erroneous start time advertised on the MSO website).
Farewell My Concubine, a classical Chinese love tragedy described by Tan as “Chinese Shakespeare”, depicted the final evening a defeated Qin dynasty warlord shared with his lover as they faced their doomed fate at dawn. Tan expressed the romance and anguish of the lover’s final moments through a dramatic musical dialogue between the piano (representing the warlord Xiang Yu) and Peking opera singing (representing Xiang Yu’s consort Yu Miaoyi).
The result was a unique and visually captivating experience. Pianist Ralph van Raat delivered an energetic and demanding performance, at one point leaning over the piano to manually strike hammers against the strings! In contrast to the piano’s rhythmic and bold tunes, Peking opera soprano Xiao Di’s hauntingly lyrical singing created an engaging musical dialogue, with members of the orchestra echoing the singing at times. In lavish Peking opera costume and make up, Xiao elegantly performed operatic movements as she sang, with a dramatic acrobatic sword dance in the grand finale. The performance was flawless; the perfect synergy between orchestra, piano and Peking opera singer creating a surreal atmosphere.
The concerto Farewell My Concubine was innovative and sophisticated, with Tan intriguing and engaging the audience, breathing new life into musical traditions in an unexpected and modern context, and experimenting with new techniques of creating sounds from instruments.
After the interval, Tan introduced Song Lines of China as the product of his search for tradition at a time when traditional cultures are at risk of vanishing into universal modernity. Drawing inspiration from Australian Aboriginal song lines and Chinese folk music, Tan collaborated with Chinese popular and folk singer Tan Weiwei to re-interpret and preserve folk music from different regions of China.
What followed was exhilarating. Tan Weiwei entered the stage joyously beating Chinese cymbals, setting up a lively atmosphere as her powerful, lofty voice filled the concert hall. Musicians and audience alike were swept away by the raw emotions of the folk-inspired interpretation. Tan Weiwei commanded the stage with her pop celebrity presence, perfectly complemented by an animated drummer and the splendid sounds of the full orchestra. Tan Dun matched her energy, stepping from the conductor’s podium to conduct amongst the orchestra.
The intended effect was well received. The gentleman sitting next to me leapt from his seat and erupted into thunderous applause as shouts of “bravo” echoed in the hall. Such enthusiasm and participation is not often seen at a classical concert. The Tan team had found a perfect medium in pop music to revive Chinese folk and western classical music traditions that seem to be losing their appeal to the younger generation of audiences. Music – like other cultural traditions – cannot be meaningfully preserved in stagnation. Tan took the audience on a journey in search for “tradition”, and we all re-discovered it within our souls.
Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite was a well-performed but somewhat puzzling conclusion to the concert, following the unorthodox Chinese themed pieces that defied the classical genre. As I sat pondering the programming choice, Tan Dun farewelled the audience with his well wishes for the year of the Fire Rooster. Puzzle solved.
The MSO’s partnership with Tan Dun and the rapturous audience response was the quintessential Chinese New Year festivity. Like family coming together for the lunar new year, the East meets West Chinese New Year Concert was a celebration of the traditional meeting the excitement of the contemporary, in ways bold and experimental, yet highly accessible to a diverse audience.
In traditional Chinese culture, the Rooster signifies the announcing of the dawn, with those born in the year of the Rooster thought of as having the ability to know the future. The MSO’s embrace of both Chinese music and the unique approach of these artists showed the audience that the vision for the future of this event is exciting.
