daoteng- April 27th, 2013
I was reading through the essays I've written this semester, and this is undoubtedly my favourite of the pack. Written for a Chinese music appreciation mod which I don't want to write it module name down to prevent people coming from Google.
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As music is not a reified thing but a social activity that people do (Small, 1998), it shapes the way the discussion of music in this paper. We will first need to establish a detailed understanding of the performing orchestras as well as the nature and specifics of the concert settings, before we proceed to discuss about the concert repertoire and its meanings. Only through this inspection of musicking, then will it be a holistic and complete discussion about music.
Concert Review – Into the New World: NUS Symphony Orchestra
The NUS Symphony Orchestra (NUSSO), a university music group in Singapore, is now home to over 80 members. One of its main missions is to provide undergraduates opportunities to pursue their interest in music, and promoting orchestral music to the public. The performers were mostly NUS students with a few guest players and alumni, and most of the audiences are friends and relatives of the students.
The concert was held at University Cultural Centre (UCC), March 10th, a pleasant Sunday night and a time convenient for the concert goers. The instruments on display were the standard western symphony orchestra instruments, namely the strings, woodwind and brass instruments. UCC is a multipurpose hall, built for numerous events including dances, plays and most notably the national day rally. As such, the acoustics do suffer and several acoustics boards were deployed at the back of the orchestra to aid them. The whole setting of the performance is also a formal one, or one could say it’s a traditional concert. I would argue that under such a setting, the interaction between performers and audiences are mainly one-way, with audience little input to the nature of the performance itself. Nonetheless, many of the nuances of the music still managed to impact and influence my emotions during the course of the concert.
Under the baton of Music director Maestro Lim Soon Lee, the orchestra promptly begins the concert. Opening with three movements from Hungarian nationalist Zoltan Kodaly’s Hary Janos Suite, the orchestra sounded in sync and magnificent. It is a piece with a mystical touch to it and overall a memorable one. The Chinese yangqin was more than a capable replacement for the Hungarian cimbalom, and technology such as condenser mics aided the instrument’s inherent flaw of having too much reverb causing the sound to be too weak in such a big hall. Lacking contextual knowledge in the piece, I could not understand fully what the music is trying to express. I was merely enjoying the music as it is, at face value and following the notes of the orchestra.
The next piece of the night was Chen Gang’s and He Zhanhao’s Butterfly Lovers Concerto, NUS Symphony Orchestra rather innovatively included the following three Chinese instruments, the sheng, the dizi and the yangqin. Due to my background in Chinese instruments, I was especially intrigued by this addition and was eager to listen to the results. This little experiment with music had mixed results, in my opinion. The sheng was a rather muted instrument compared with the other brass and failed to distinguish and make its mark. The yangqin was at almost inaudible level of sound and its unique tone was unable to shine in the midst of a harmonious western orchestra. Only the dizi came out with merit, outshining its western peers. There was a strong oriental feel in the opening solo, as well as the interactions that followed with the violin solo. In the parts where the dizi played together with the western flute, its tone shone through and its characteristics intact despite being placed in a foreign orchestra.
The violin soloist, Mr Foo Say Ming, was also brilliant as well in his rendition of this epic classic. However, as a Chinese Orchestra musician myself, I cannot help but feel that the NUS Symphony Orchestra’s version sounds a bit too “western” for my liking. It is weird, as technically the notes are the same, but the whole sound of the orchestra does not suit my liking. Mr Foo, while brilliant, did not really bring out the “Chineseness” of the piece. Overall, I was not mesmerized neither by the soloist nor the orchestra.
Leaving the best for the last, Maestro Lim presided over the Dvorak’s Ninth Symphony after the short intermission. Also known as “From the New World”, it was obvious that the concert title had been inspired from it. The symphony itself was a spectacular, and after a cautious start in the first movement, the orchestra marched fearlessly and completed the suite without error. Composer Antonin Dvorak had attempted to write a new form of American music, inspired by the Native American tunes and folk songs. The result was an enchanting piece and an ear-opener indeed. With the folk song melody running through my head even after concert, this piece was my absolute favourite of the night.
Concert Review II – Reminiscence: NUS Chinese Orchestra
The second concert that I’ve been involved in is Reminiscence by NUS Chinese Orchestra (NUSCO), and I took part in it as a performer. NUSCO started out as a small Chinese instrument ensemble which slowly grew in strength and prestige over the years. One of its missions is to provide a platform for undergraduates and alumni alike to showcase their talents as well as the promotion and education of Chinese orchestral music in Singapore.The concert took place on 29th March, 7.30PM at SCO Concert Hall. It was a Good Friday, however did not dampen the enthusiasm of the audience as it was a sellout. As a traditional concert hall, the concert was very much the same as the NUSSO concert in terms of presentation. The musicking process is mainly one-way, with audience having limited input
One of the pieces that night which particularly stood out for me was Xishi Guzheng Concerto. The melody sounded antique, almost like the ancient music from Chinese palaces (宫廷音乐), and the instrumentation supports this interpretation. The use of yunluo（云锣） mimics the sound of ancient Chinese bianzhong (编钟). The story of yue king goujian (勾践) and downfall of wu king fuchai (夫差) was presented in the piece, with the program notes providing a detailed breakdown of the story each individual stanza represents. Composer Chen Neng-chi, exemplifying his background in western music, included a lot of weird time signatures in the piece as well, making it difficult for performers to keep up to. That is in contrast with the traditional antique melody, which makes the piece so memorable to performers and audiences alike.
The main highlight of the night’s show was undoubtedly the Butterfly Lovers concerto. Performed by young local violinist Yang Shuxiang, his was a rendition that exudes fervor and passion. It could almost be argued that there was as much drama in his expression as in the music itself, as his showmanship brought the audiences into his realm of music. Aided by the hand illustrated backdrop, NUSCO presented a Butterfly Lovers concerto that was centered around storytelling, and the musicking experience that ensued as audiences follow through the scenes trying to imagine the composers’ and performers’ messages through the consumption of every single note.
Comparing both concerts – A different yet similar musicking experience
One observation was telling, in the NUSSO’s program booklet, there were little to no description of the story between Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. Instead the focus was strictly on the composers’ background as well as the time of composition. This was in stark contrast with NUSCO’s program notes, which devoted entirely to the description of the love story between Liang and Zhu.
For me this highlights the two radically different musicking experiences. For a western orchestra performance, it would seem like there are no stories to be explored within. However, there are political or social messages to be unearthed, and great emphasis was on the composition techniques or playing techniques of the solo instruments.
A Chinese orchestra would focus more on the storytelling aspect in their music. Not restricting to only NUSCO’s performance, but many of the other performances I had been to as well, it seemed like most if not all the program notes had always been concentrating on the story aspect of the music. Personally, I am very entrenched to this way of musicking, and would feel lost when appreciating a western classical piece where there seem to have no story within.
However, the two versions of Butterfly Lovers Concerto can be juxtaposed together as the scores are exactly identical. Other than instrumentation differences, both versions are exactly the same in notes and tempo. Hence the main difference that made it such a different musicking experience is only down to the difference in tone color of instruments, the soloists’ interpretations, as well as the orchestra’s direction when they approach the piece. These differences manifest in the two renditions we hear, making it a similar yet different musicking experience for the audiences.
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