The Students' Orchestra of the Beijing-based Central Conservatory of Music had an exciting evening at the concert hall at Gendarmenmarkt in the German capital as they led off the two-week "Young. Euro. Classic" Summer Festival on August 5.
They presented an elaborate and ambitious program, featuring the world premiere of a contemporary Chinese symphony for orchestra and solo voices, a concerto adapted from a Chinese opera and Beethoven's "Pastoral."
Established violinist Xue Wei, a faculty member at the conservatory, played three encore pieces including his trademark "Hora Staccato."
"This year we focus on China, an emerging country with exciting perspectives both with regard to arts and economy," said Dr Gabriele Minz, organizer of the festival.
Minz has the Chinese characters symbolizing "crisis" on her business card. It is because of her sense of crisis over the decline in classic music in Europe that she began preparing the festival in 1997.
"The connection between musical youth and the orchestra tradition is important and I am happy to see in recent years classical music is reviving gradually in Europe although rock, pop and hip hop still attract most young people," said Minz.
Under the baton of Hu Yongyan, who has served as musical director of the orchestra for two years after resigning from the position at the Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra in 2003, the orchestra's showy mixed program garnered a range of responses from members of the audience.
The concert opened with a hymn for four brass instruments by Hans Schanderl, which has to be played at the beginning of each concert at the request of the festival organizers.
Brass is not the Chinese orchestra's strong point, but their performance was well received.
Rapturous applause greeted the players after the world premiere of the last two movements of the Chinese version of "Song of the Earth." Composer Ye Xiaogang was commissioned by the China Philharmonic Orchestra to reinterpret the seven Chinese poems that inspired Mahler when he was composing his ninth symphony in 1908.
Ye's first four movements, featuring a dazzling soprano, impressed German music lovers when the China Philharmonic Orchestra toured the country. The "Young. Euro. Classic" festival commissioned him to complete the piece and premiere it at the opening concert.
Baritone Yuan Chenye, who will return from the United States to serve in the faculty of the Central Conservatory of Music, performed with a rich Chinese flavor. His voice amazed the audience though some that have been deeply affected by Mahler's version found the new work did not please their ears as much.
"Technically, the score is hard for a baritone, falling and rising one octave from time to time," Yuan told China Daily at the after-concert party.
"What's more, Ye just completed the score one week before the premiere, so it really challenges all of us, me, conductor Hu and the students. But finally, we did a good job and I am satisfied with my singing," he said.
"I was very impressed by the two movements and hope to hear the complete work soon," said Dr Richard Campbell, a Berlin-based veteran music critic.
Campbell, 73, was once a conductor and is now a freelancer in Europe and the US.
Compared to the contemporary work, Chinese violin concerto "The Butterfly Lovers," which was called the Chinese "Romeo and Juliet" by the local press, moved everybody.
"I love the piece so much. It sounds lovely, touching and dramatic," said Claus Werner, a 24-year-old student from the Freie University. It is the first time Werner, who studies European history, has listened to a concert given by a Chinese orchestra.
"I am not a big fan of classical music, but do go to concerts from time to time. I booked the ticket in advance, because I had little idea about Chinese music and would love to get some sense of it," he said.
Claudia Goldberg, a young university student with her photographer friend Martin Ceperley from the United States, saw the concert advertised in the street and decided to attend as a "spontaneous idea."
"We can hear Beethoven often but rarely Chinese music. For me, 'Butterfly Lovers' sounds like a movie soundtrack, colorful and dramatic. It's a beautiful and touching story, isn't it?" said Goldberg, who saw the National Ballet of China's "Raise the Red Lanterns" last October in Paris.
"So far, according to my limited knowledge, Chinese music is pleasant to the ears and delivers drama," she said.
Most members of the audience appreciated the first half of the concert more than the rendition of Beethoven's "Pastoral."
Wang Cizhao, president of the Central Conservatory of Music, told the Chinese press before they set off for Berlin that they intentionally chose the piece to challenge themselves, to play Beethoven in his home country and show how Chinese understand Western classical music.
Although many polite members of the audience responded positively saying it was refreshing to hear an orchestra from Asia playing Beethoven, a few serious and picky critics of the older generation gave harsh and to the point appraisals.
"The orchestra is well trained and performed very well in the first half of Chinese music," said Campbell. "However, the Beethoven is too hectic. They always rushed especially in the first movement. The strings sound a little bit better but the oboe is really poor."
Whether praised or criticized, the student orchestra achieved its objective, and so did the organizer.
"The Chinese student orchestra has succeeded in bringing fresh air to the annual festival," said Minz. "We appreciated their innovative and dynamic performance.
"We intend to offer the possibility of becoming familiar with specific national musical idioms. Variety is the uppermost principle here. Creativity knows no boundaries; it is inexhaustible and continuously opens the doors to the future," she added.
The festival promotes contemporary music in Berlin. Many unknown composers define the programs, offering an alternative to what is traditionally presented in the German capital.
BMW Group has been the main backer of the event from the very beginning, and also sponsored the Beijing orchestra's tour.
"Inter-cultural dialogue is essential for international understanding and peace and thus the basis for economic activities," said Richard Gaul, senior vice-president for corporate affairs at BMW Group.
Its next major project is to co-operate with the Nuremberg State Theatre and Beijing Music Festival to bring Wagner's opera "Ring" to Beijing in October.
(China Daily August 16, 2005)
