by Kevin T McEneaney
Last Saturday, Jindong Cai led the annual China Now Music Festival at Bard Sosnoff Theater with The Orchestra Now. The broad focus of the program selected living composers from three generations. Under the baton of Jindong Cai, the orchestra opened with Invisible Mountain (2014) by Dai Bo, a prominent blind composer who delights with lyrical soundscapes. The composer was guided to a fourth-row seat.
The music combined the Western diatonic scale with the traditional Chinese pentatonic scale. Working with the genre of Chinese mountain climbing songs, it featured eleven harmonic variations gradually rising to the Finale, which was energetic and explosive as it portrayed a majestic mountain-top panorama that conjured visceral wonder. Dai Bo took a bow at the enthusiastic applause from the audience.
The Lonely Camel Calf for cello and orchestra (2012) by Yu Mengshi was based upon a folk song from Inner Mongolia, which dramatized the plight of a young lost calf wandering and searching for its mother. Solo cellist Hai-Ye Ni, principal cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, was phenomenal with dramatic lyricism. I was transfixed by loneliness and wonder! In the Finale, the full orchestra erupts with explosive joy as the calf scents its mother and rushes to join her. The celebratory conclusion evokes exaltation! Mongolian-born Yu Mengshi was present to receive a standing ovation.
Professor Zou Hang is noted for his diverse blends of Western Classical Music and local Chinese music, which describe the characteristics of diverse regional landscapes and the temperament of its citizens. His work has been performed in over thirty countries. The Color of Qingdao (2019) draws upon both local folk songs and opera, fusing both styles into a contemporary musical dialogue about this coastal city that features a mountainous backdrop. The lyricism of ocean and mountain combine for an explosive Finale with tremendous percussion and cymbals. The Coor of Beijing (2006) combines Peking Opera with the traditional Chinese pentatonic scale to describe the many virtues and idiosyncrasies of its native citizens. This music was charming, humorous, and conjured the grandiosity of the city itself. The fireworks in the Finale were most impressive!
The Song of the Earth, Op. 47 for soprano, baritone, and orchestra (2005) by Ye Xiaogang was inspired by Gustav Mahler’s 1909 symphony bearing the same title, yet, in terms of music, there is no connection, except that both symphonies have a deep relation to native poetry concerning mortality, Nature, aesthetics, love, work, wine, and song. Recordings of his many works are available on EMI, Naxos, and BIS.
Bass-baritone Yue Wu sang quite well. Soprano Manli Deng is the star singer for the Maryland Lyric Opera and has performed many roles. She was simply outstanding! Her voice must sell out any opera production! The lyrics sung were in the vein of Confucius, whose moral-cultural influence still lingers in China.
This was a concert of extraordinary music that blended musical elements of East and West into a cornucopian soundscape that will be treasured by all who attended this splendid event….
