by Kevin T McEneaney
Last Saturday at the Lazlo-Bito Conservatory, under the direction of Jindong Cai, the Ensemble, which features a sophisticated blend of Eastern and Western instruments, presented a diverse three-part program of new contemporary music.
The second part of the program offered a new thirty-minute operetta, The Enigma, with libretto by Pan Geng and music by Ma Hanrui. The concept of this operetta was inspired by Madame Butterfly by Puccini. Tenor Finnbar Carey was marvelous with emotion, nuance, and sound. The role of the Chinese opera singer-character, sung by Yu Xiangwei, needed more substantial foregrounding than the reportorial narrator ably sung by baritone Nathaniel Sullivan with earnest excitement.
Four Seasons in Lingering Garden, a symphonic poem by Wang Danhong (b. 1985), who is considered to be a young notable composer, also includes dance by the choreographer Dai Jian with creative performance by Wang Kan and Peng Mi. As with Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (1725), the sensuous temperament of the landscape received vivid musical description appropriate to the seasons, with Beitong Lui on erhu and Njya Lubang on bass offering deep emotional warmth.
Four Seasons in Lingering Garden, a symphonic poem by Wang Danhong (b. 1985), who is considered to be a young notable composer, also includes dance by the choreographer Dai Jian with creative performance by Wang Kan and Peng Mi. As with Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (1725), the sensuous temperament of the landscape received vivid musical description appropriate to the seasons, with Beitong Lui on erhu and Njya Lubang on bass offering deep emotional warmth.
The dance and music of the concluding winter was my favorite. The dancing offered parallel drama to the music and included an allegory about building community, with love as the emotional elemental principle that overcomes difficulty amid the beauty of the seasons.
This concluding composition with dance was the preview of its Lincoln Center Premiere the following day. This work palpably induces a cathartic sense of rebirth through the music. One of the dance themes offers cyclic conclusion.
